By Jeff D'Andrea

Raiders run out of steam against Pats

Jan 7, 2018 | 5:56 PM

At the end of the three-games-in-three-night stretch, the Prince Albert Raiders couldn’t complete three game sweep.

They fell to the Regina Pats 4-1 at the Brandt Centre in the province’s capital, after beating the Red Deer Rebels 2-1 in overtime and the Kootenay Ice 7-3 on Friday at the Art Hauser Centre.

For the Raiders, that’s their 11^th straight loss to the Pats as they’re 0-7-4 in that span against the 2018 Memorial Cup hosts. Their last victory against the Queen City club was last year’s season opener, a 4-3 OT win on Sept. 23, 2016.

Just 37 seconds into the game, Robbie Holmes gave the Pats the lead on a screened shot. Raiders associate coach Dave Manson said that goal set the tone the wrong way.

“They scored early and that set us on our heels. We ended up chasing the game a lot earlier than we thought would happen,” Manson said. “It wasn’t a very good goal, to be quite honest, and it set us on our heels. To kill [four] penalties in the first, it was tough. It kills your energy and shortens your bench.”

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Down 3-0 with 6:45 left in the game, the Raiders pulled goaltender Ian Scott for the extra attacker despite there being a lot of time left. Jake Leschyshyn scored his second goal of the game from his own end to make it a 4-0 game. Manson said the Raiders were hoping to take advantage of the Pats fatigued unit, who iced the puck and couldn’t make a line change.

“We had them locked in, [the Pats] had a tired group from the icing call, so we gave it a shot. Pull the goalie, there’s nothing wrong with that,” Manson said. “If we get one there, we have five minutes to get two. It didn’t work, but you have to try something once in a while.”

Parker Kelly scored the Raiders’ lone goal late in the third on a two-man power play advantage, his third goal in his last four games. Vojtech Budik, who had a goal and an assist on Saturday in his first game back from the World Juniors, also drew an assist. Jordy Stallard also had a helper, extending his point streak to four games (two goals, four assists).

Scoring Summary

First Period

1-0, Pats, Robbie Holmes from Jake Leschyshyn, 0:37

Robbie Holmes scores just 37 seconds in to give the Pats an early 1-0 advantage. Scott couldn’t locate the puck through all the traffic in front pic.twitter.com/7aYIDdPa12

— Jeff D’Andrea (@Jeff_paNOW) January 7, 2018

Second Period

No scoring.

Third Period

2-0, Pats, Jake Leschyshyn from Cale Fleury, 3:12

Jake Leschyshyn scores to put the Pats up 2-0 pic.twitter.com/Nd5z3ilaL0

— Jeff D’Andrea (@Jeff_paNOW) January 7, 2018

3-0, Pats, Bryan Lockner from Cole Dubinsky, 9:56

Lockner bounces it in after Raiders turn it over pic.twitter.com/JlHcNIbJNb

— Jeff D’Andrea (@Jeff_paNOW) January 8, 2018

4-0, Pats, Jake Leschyshyn (empty net, unassisted), 13:32

Here’s the goal pic.twitter.com/yTFc975nXC

— Jeff D’Andrea (@Jeff_paNOW) January 8, 2018

4-1, Raiders, Parker Kelly from Jordy Stallard and Vojtech Budik, 17:08

Pesky Parker Kelly gets the Raiders on the board, with a 2-man power play. 4-1 Pats, 17:08 into 3rd pic.twitter.com/uS420s9ztx

— Jeff D’Andrea (@Jeff_paNOW) January 8, 2018

The Raiders will be back in action with a pair of home games on the weekend against two of the best teams in the conference, Friday against the Swift Current Broncos and Saturday against the Moose Jaw Warriors.

Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW