Ben Riche of the Saskatoon Blades battles with Aiden Oiring of the Prince Albert Raiders for a puck in a preseason matchup. (Mark Peterson/Prince Albert Raiders)

By Nick Nielsen

Raiders lose 4-3 (OT)

Raiders drop final preseason battle with Blades

Sep 15, 2024 | 12:44 PM

After Friday’s electric finish in a shootout that saw the Prince Albert Raiders come from behind for a 5-4 win on home ice, the Raiders were in Warman Saturday night for a rematch with the Saskatoon Blades. Despite taking a late lead, the Raiders would fall 4-3 in overtime.

The Raiders used an early powerplay to take the momentum early despite not scoring. At 13:12, Dayce Derkatch brought the puck down the right side of the ice on a 2-on-1 with Ty Meunier, and Derkatch fed Meunier as he cut left and ripped a shot into the back of the net to give the Raiders the lead.

Then 25 seconds later at 13:37, Luke Moroz sent the puck ahead to Cole Peardon, and Peardon found Jonah Sivertson alone in front of the net. Sivertson stickhandled his way around the goaltender before firing his backhand top shelf for the two goal lead.

After 1: Raiders 2 – 0 Blades, shots 11-5 Raiders

The second period saw the Blades start to to put together some momentum of their own. With Doogan Pederson in the box on the powerplay, Brayden Klimpke took at shot from the middle of the blueline through traffic and Max Hildebrand didn’t even see it.

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In the game on Friday, the Blades scored with 0.3 seconds left in the period. During this one, the Blades outdid themselves and scored with 0.2 left when Ben Saunderson worked his way on to the left side of the offensive zone and fired a shot that tied the game.

After 2: Raiders 2 – 2 Blades, shots 12-11 Raiders, 23-16 Raiders overall

Both teams got early powerplays in the third, but the Raiders started to form a trail to the box with three straight calls against them. Still, they battled to keep the game tied until the 17:53 mark when Cole Peardon brought the puck ahead to centre and found Luke Moroz on the left side, and Moroz fired a great wrist shot into the back of the net to give the Raiders the lead late.

In the dying seconds of the game, the Blades tied it. With the goaltender pulled, Hudson Kibblewhite managed to find the puck in the middle of a scramble and put the puck into the net, tying the game and sending it to overtime.

After 3: Raiders 3 – 3 Blades, shots 15-9 Blades, 32-31 Raiders overall

In the offensive zone, the Raiders were cycling the puck when Daxon Rudolph collided with a Blades defender, earning Rudolph an interference call and setting up the Blades on the powerplay.

On the man advantage, the Blades Ben Riche was set up for a onetimer late and he fired his shot off the bar and in to give the Blades their first and only win of the preseason.

FINAL: Raiders 3 – 4 Blades, shots 2-1 Blades, 33-33 overall

Max Hildebrand was given the full 60 minutes for the first time this preseason, earning a 0.878 save percentage off 29/33 shots on the night. The Raiders powerplay went 0/5 on the night, the only time this preseason the Raiders failed to score on the man advantage.

The Raiders are off the ice until Friday when they take on the Regina Pats at the Art Hauser Centre in the season opener.