Cooper Anderson makes one of his 32 saves against the Victoria Royals as the Raiders go on to lose 6-4. (Kevin Light/Victoria Royals)

By Nick Nielsen

Raiders lose 6-4

Raiders drop early lead to Royals in B.C. road trip game four

Oct 19, 2024 | 2:05 AM

After getting their first win in B.C. on Tuesday in Kamloops, the Raiders were looking to build on that momentum against the Victoria Royals on Friday night. While the Raiders poured on the pressure for an early lead at the end of the first, the Royals came back to win 6-4 over the Raiders.

It took until 8:08 into the first period for the Raiders to get started on the scoreboard, and they did it on the powerplay. Krzyzstof Macias started the play getting the puck out of the corner back to the right point for Lukas Dragicevic, and he sent the puck to the left point for Tomas Mrsic. He found a lane to the slot, and Mrsic’s signature wrist shot found the back of the net for the Raiders third straight successful powerplay dating back to Tuesday.

At 9:38, the Raiders doubled their lead when Riley Boychuk found Brayden Dube streaking down the right wall, and Dube leaned into contact as he drove the net and surprised everyone with a beautiful pass across the crease for Dragicevic streaking in for his first as a Raider.

The Royals struck back at 15:26 on a pretty passing play. Tanner Scott entered down the left side of the blueline and sent a pass across the blueline for the trailing Reggie Newman, and he found a seam through the slot to Markus Loponen on the backdoor who tipped it home.

The onslaught from the Raiders didn’t let up though, and at 16:48 the Raiders scored on the powerplay again. This time Dragicevic started the play with a pass from the middle of the blueline to Krzyzstof Macias on the right, and he put a hard wrist shot on that bounced out to a streaking Aiden Oiring who scored his fourth of the season.

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At 18:08, the Raiders scored their final goal of the night when Ethan Bibeau helped win a battle at centre and get the puck to Dube, and he drove the net on another great move where he leaned into contact, but this time he drove the net for a backhand shot that was stopped. Niall Crocker crashing the net found the loose puck, putting it home for his fourth.

At the end of the period, Vojtech Vochvest and Reggie Newman decided to drop the gloves and size each other up before they started to throw hands. Both men landed hard shots before being ejected from the game for the premeditated scrap.

After 1: Raiders 4 – 1 Royals, shots 13-8 Royals

Despite being outshot in the first, the Raiders had the majority of grade A chances on goal. The shot rate in the second was similar, but the quality chances heavily favoured the Royals in the second after changing goaltenders from Jayden Kraus to Spencer Michnik in the second.

At 5:01 the scoring started with Vaughn Watterodt scoring an unassisted goal on a great shot from out wide that beat Cooper Anderson. A long review took place to see if a dump in earlier in the play had hit a stick on the bench, but it was determined it hadn’t and the Royals were within two.

Next shift at 5:58, the Royals scored again when Cole Reschny found Escalus Burlock entering the zone fresh off a change down the left wall, and he fired a hard shot on net to bring his team within one.

The Raiders hit three posts in the period with shots from Boychuk, Mrsic, and Sivertson, but the Royals still controlled play for most of the second period.

After 2: Raiders 4 – 3 Royals, shots 12-7 Royals, 25-15 Royals overall

In the third, the Royals scored early to tie it when a Raiders defender tried to clear the puck from in front of the net and instead the puck went on goal. The puck bounced out from Anderson, and Burlock found the rebound his second of the night.

For the second time of the night, the Royals scored at the 5:01 mark of the period when Teydon Trembecky got the puck on a feed into the middle of the ice and scored his third of the season to give the Royals the lead for the first time in the game.

Cole Reschny would add an empty netter at 18:50, and the Royals would walk away with their second win in a row.

FINAL: Raiders 4 – 6 Royals, shots 12-10 Royals, 37-25 Royals overall

The Raiders finish their five game road swing through B.C. against the Vancouver Giants on Saturday at 8:00p.m. Saskatchewan time with the pregame show starting at 7:30 p.m. on 900 CKBI.