Raiders Take Down Wheat Kings
Published on February 16, 2020 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Prince Albert Raiders News Release
Prince Albert, SK - Four different players scored as the Prince Albert Raiders (30-16-5-4) picked up a 4-1 victory over the visiting Brandon Wheat Kings (29-20-3-2) on Saturday night at the Art Hauser Centre.
Spencer Moe, Tyson Laventure, Ilya Usau, and Aliaksei Protas all found the back of the net in the win, with Protas also chipping in an assist.
Max Paddock was stellar again between the pipes for the Raiders as he backstopped them to their 30th win of the season. The win also put the Raiders up six points on the Wheat Kings in the East Division standings.
The Raiders got on the board 4:06 into the contest. Protas put a shot on goal from the top of the left faceoff circle. The puck bounced around in front of Jiri Patera until it found the stick of Spencer Moe, who potted the loose puck for his 17th goal of the season to make it 1-0.
Paddock made his first big save of the game on a Wheat Kings power play. Ridly Greig's shot got through traffic and Paddock kicked it away. Ben McCartney was on top of the crease, but Paddock was able to slide to his left and get his pad to the post to keep the puck of the net.
Shortly after, the Wheaties were able to get on the board. Greig's wrist shot from the top of the zone went off Cole Reinhardt in front of the goal and past Paddock with 2:00 left in the opening period, tying it up at 1-1.
About three minutes into the second, the Raiders regained the lead. Kaiden Guhle put a shot on goal that was tipped by Eric Pearce. The deflection was stopped by Patera, but Laventure was in the right place to bang home the rebound for his fifth goal of the year to give the Raiders a 2-1 advantage.
The Raiders added an insurance marker 4:18 into the third period. Ozzy Wiesblatt went end-to-end on a rush, drawing the attention of the Wheat Kings' defence. He went wide to the left and found Usau with a backhand pass across the zone. Usau put his shot off the cross bar and in over Patera for his 19th of the year, putting the Raiders ahead 3-1.
Late in the third, the Wheat Kings upped the pressure with a power play. Paddock made the initial stop on Reinhardt, but the puck squirted to the other side of the crease. Reece Vitelli stepped up with a big shot block on McCartney. That let Justin Nachbaur ice the puck at the end of the power play as Protas got out of the box. The Washington Capitals prospect retrieved the puck and scored his 26th goal of the season into the empty net to round out the scoring.
Paddock finished the game with 26 saves to earn his 18th win of the season. Patera stopped 25 shots at the other end of the rink in the loss.
The Raiders are back in action on Tuesday night when the Regina Pats visit the Art Hauser Centre. Puck drop is 7 p.m. Tickets are available at the Raiders Office and at raiderhockey.com.
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