Raiders Blank Hurricanes for Third-Straight Win
Published on March 9, 2022 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Prince Albert Raiders News Release
Prince Albert, Sask. - Evan Herman tallied a pair of goals and Tikhon Chaika picked up his second shutout of the season as the Prince Albert Raiders (22-28-2-1) blanked the Lethbridge Hurricanes (23-26-2-1) 4-0 on Tuesday night at the Art Hauser Centre.
With their third-straight win, the Raiders took over the eighth and final playoff spot with 47 points. They hold the final spot due to owning the tiebreakers against the Calgary Hitmen and Swift Current Broncos.
Sloan Stanick and Landon Kosior also scored in the win for the Raiders. Keaton Sorensen and Reece Vitelli each had a pair of assists.
It was Stanick who opened the scoring in the game 1:13 into the contest. Vitelli ducked a check at the boards as he cruised to the bottom of the right faceoff circle. His cross-crease pass was deflected, but it got through to Stanick who fought off Justin Hall to get his shot past Bryan Thomson for his 17th goal of the season.
Herman made it 2-0 with his 20th goal about two minutes later. His centering pass from the right wing went off the stick of a Hurricanes defender and past Thomson to give Herman his 20th goal of the season. The goal ended Thomson's night after facing just two shots.
The Raiders welcomed Jared Picklyk to the game with a flurry of chances. Ozzy Wiesblatt just tipped a backdoor pass from Vitelli wide of the goal. He recovered the puck and found Vladislav Shilo in front, but his attempt was denied. The puck squirted out to Kosior at the blueline, who set up Nolan Allan with a one-timer. The blast was caught and held by Picklyk to end that threat.
Herman solved Picklyk on the power play 4:13 into the middle frame. After breaking up a rush the going the other way, Remy Aquilon skated the puck into the zone and left it for Carson Latimer. The Ottawa Senators prospect's cross-ice pass was one-timed home by Herman from the right faceoff circle to give the The Pas, Man. product his team-leading 21st goal of the year.
Midway through the period, the Raiders extended their lead to 4-0. Sorensen stopped and look for a passing lane in the right corner. He found Landon Kosior trailing the play and set up the Regina product with a pass. Kosior blasted a one-timer past Picklyk's blocker to pick up his 15th goal of the season with 8:36 to go in the second.
While the Hurricanes pressed in the third, Chaika and the Raiders were able to keep the visitors off the scoreboard. Chaika's best save of the period came on former Raider Tyson Laventure. Liekit Reichle made a pass to give Laventure a clear path to the net, but Chaika followed the play and got his right pad out to deny Laventure.
Chaika finished the game with 23 saves for this 16th win of the year. Picklyk made 27 saves in relief for the Hurricanes.
The Raiders are off until Friday night when they open a home-and-home series with the Saskatoon Blades at the Art Hauser Centre. Game time is 7 p.m. Tickets are available at the Raiders Office and at SaskTix.ca.
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