Raiders give up two shorties to Blades, lose 5-3 in home opener
The Prince Albert Raiders special teams weren’t too special at the 900 CKBI Raider Home Opener Saturday against the Saskatoon Blades in the Raiders’ 5-3 loss in front of an Art Hauser crowd of 2,612.
The Raiders gave up two goals on six penalty kills and were 0-4 with the man-advantage, but what hurt the most is that the Raiders gave up two shorthanded goals in the game.
Blades forward Josh Nicholls scored with a man-down on a breakaway four minutes into the game. The puck was bouncing slightly when it came up the point to Raiders defenceman James Bettauer and Nicholls pounced on him, winning the puck on the wall and was off to the races.
The other Blades’ shorthanded goal was scored by Jesse Paradis 1:18 into the third to give the Blades a 4-3 lead. Paradis stripped Justin Maylan of the puck in the neutral zone before walking in.