Montgomery the home opening hero in Raiders 6-5 OT win

On the bench during the overtime, Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid went over to Montgomery and asked him how his legs were and if he was prepared for the quick-paced 3-on-3 overtime. Montgomery gave the affirmative, even though he wasn’t sure Habscheid would actually play him.

“He asked me if I was feeling good to go and I kinda just said ‘yeah, I was ready’ not really thinking that I was going to go out, maybe because we have some other guys that can score pretty good,” said Montgomery. “I got out there and Tkatch made a really good pass across the crease there and I kinda just shot it and hoped for the best.”

The game was all kinds of bananas to get to that overtime period. Habscheid admitted his hair probably got a little bit more grey when trying to deal with all the twists and turns.

The Raiders had a 3-0 lead by the midpoint of the game, but saw it vanish by the early point of the third period.

Wyatt Sloboshan got the Blades back in the game himself with two goals within 2:51 of each other to make it a 3-2 game heading into the third, before the Blades took a 4-3 lead early in the final regulation frame.

“I think he needed that, he was struggling a little bit and getting a little frustrated so it’s great to see him pot a couple to get him off the schneid,” said Blades head coach and general manager Bob Woods on Sloboshan, who went scoreless his final seven games last year.

But the Raiders earned a long 52-second 5-on-3 man-advantage midway through the third period and called a timeout. That seemed to be a good move as the Raiders scored two power play goals right after as Simon Stransky and Luke Coleman gave the Raiders a 5-4 lead.

“We hadn’t had a chance to go over that,” said Habscheid on his team’s 5-on-3 power play preparation early in the season. “A lot of guys were with me last year but I knew that was at a crucial time of the game—we had to score there.”

Of course, it couldn’t end there as Cameron Hebig scored the Blades’ fifth goal to send the game into overtime. That set up Montgomery’s game winner 3:54 into the overtime frame.

Jordan Tkatch had a monster night as he was in on four of the Raiders’ goals. He scored the first goal of the game and assisted on the Raiders’ last three goals—including Montgomery’s OT winner. Raiders forwards Simon Stransky had a goal and two assists and Austin Glover had a goal and an assist.

Sloboshan’s two goals led the Blades offensively, as Hebig, Ryan Graham and Josh Paterson also scored—for Paterson it was his first WHL career goal.

Rylan Parenteau made 29 saves on 34 shots for the Raiders, a night after giving up five goals on 21 shots.

“He had a tough night [Friday] and we don’t play for a week so we just wanted to get him the opportunity to go back in,” said Habschied. “We knew he would respond, he’s good at bounce back games so good for him. He played real well tonight.”

Guhle glance

Raiders defenceman Brendan Guhle got a pair of assists with the Buffalo Sabres in their 6-4 preseason win over the Toronto Maple Leafs Friday at the Air Canada Centre.

That was Guhle’s third game with the Sabres and was the only player in their organization to play in all their preseason games until Saturday when he finally got a deserved rest.

Guhle was taken by the Sabres in the second round, 51^st overall in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.

Looking ahead

The Raiders will stick around for have three more games at home, Friday against the Vancouver Giants, Saturday against the Medicine Hat Tigers and Tuesday against the Kootenay Ice before embarking on their American road trip Oct. 10-17.

jdandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_dandrea

by Jeff D'Andrea

Montgomery the home opening hero in Raiders 6-5 OT win

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