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Raiders win 17th straight, edging Rebels 4-3

Nov 27, 2018 | 11:33 PM

For the second straight game, the Prince Albert Raiders broke a franchise record set in the 1985-86 season as the team won their seventh straight road game with a 4-3 victory over the Red Deer Rebels.

The win extended the team’s overall winning streak to 17 games and improved the Raiders’ overall record to 24-1 through 25 games.

It was a quick start from the green and gold with Spencer Moe and Parker Kelly scoring less than five minutes into the contest, putting the visiting Raiders up 2-0 and forcing the Rebels to use their timeout to settle things down.

The timeout worked momentarily as the Rebels got on the board when a point shot from Ethan Sakowich found its way through a screen and past Raider goaltender Ian Scott, but Cole Fonstad responded and put the Raiders back in front 3-1, a lead they held into the first intermission. Rebels goaltender Ethan Anders, who stumped the Raiders with 49 saves in Red Deer’s Oct 6 victory over Prince Albert, was replaced by Byron Fancy after allowing three goals on 10 shots in just under ten minutes of action.

The Raider penalty kill was put to work early and often in this game, with Red Deer failing to strike on three power play opportunities in the first, including an extended 5-on-3 situation.

Prince Albert never saw a power play in the first, but Kelly’s goal did come on a 6 on 5 due to a delayed penalty. In the second, the Raiders took advantage of their first power play opportunity as Brett Leason scored his 26th goal of the year, which put the team back in front 4-2 after Zak Smith had made it a one goal game earlier in the period

“I thought we played really good in the first period. Second period we kind of lost momentum a little bit with penalties, and we fought through it,” said Raiders assistant coach Jeff Truitt.

Just one goal was scored in the third period, with the Rebels finally breaking through on their seventh man advantage of the night. With Fancy on the bench and the Rebels outmanning the Raiders 6 on 4, Jeff de Wit found the back of the net with 59 seconds remaining, but that’s as close as Red Deer would get

“Third period, we knew early on that they were going to have a push for sure, and again we started taking more penalties than we should, but we found a way…I thought the guys did a great job,” said Truitt.

Despite the win, the Raiders didn’t come out of this one unscathed as over age forward Sean Montgomery left the game after an awkward collision late in the second and didn’t return. After the game, Truitt said he was still being assessed.

“We’re just getting him looked at, it’s probably more precautionary than anything right now until we get some more stuff looked at. He was sitting on the [trainer’s] table there but we just didn’t want to take any chances on anything so [athletic therapist Duane Bartley] will have him checked out here before we go.”

Brett Leason was able to extend his season-opening point streak to 25 games with an assist on Kelly’s early goal in the first and added a goal of his own in the second. Just hours before the game, Leason was named as the Canadian Hockey League player of the week for the first time this season after scoring six goals and ten points over three games. The forward now has 26 goals and 56 points in 25 games.

Prince Albert will wrap up their four-game Central Division road trip Wednesday night in Edmonton as they face the Oil Kings for the first time this season.

Scoring summary

First period

Raiders, 1-0, Spencer Moe from Ozzy Wiesblatt and Carson Miller, 2:59

Raiders, 2-0, Parker Kelly from Sergei Sapego and Brett Leason, 4:11

Rebels, 2-1, Ethan Sakowich from Chris Douglas and Jacob Herauf, 5:27

Raiders, 3-1, Cole Fonstad from Sergei Sapego and Noah Gregor, 9:07

Second period

Rebels, 3-2, Zak Smith from Alex Morozoff and Austin Schellenberg, 9:43

Raiders, 4-2, Brett Leason from Noah Gregor and Sergei Sapego, 14:27 (power play goal)

Third period

Rebels, 4-3, Jeff de Wit from Brandon Hagel and Jacob Herauf, 19:01 (power play goal)

 

trevor.redden@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @Trevor_Redden