Justice Christensen celebrates scoring one of three goals Raiders defenceman contributed in a 5-3 win over the Brandon Wheat Kings. (Mark Peterson/Prince Albert Raiders)

By Nick Nielsen

Raiders win 5-3

Defensive scoring leads Raiders over Wheat Kings

Dec 15, 2024 | 6:19 AM

In their final home game before the Christmas break, the Prince Albert Raiders were looking to string together two wins for the first time in five games, along with a little revenge for their last loss to the Brandon Wheat Kings a week ago. With three goals from defenceman and another tipped in off a defenceman’s shot, the Raiders took an early lead and cruised to a 5-3 win over Brandon.

The Raiders opened the scoring at the 4:26 mark when Aiden Oiring retrieved a puck in the corner of the Wheat Kings zone. He cycled the puck towards the left side point where he dropped the puck for Lukas Dragicevic, and he walked down the left wall before cutting to the net and shooting fivehole to score his third goal in four games and fourth of the season.

The Raiders continued the momentum at the 8:20 mark when Tomas Mrsic got the puck at the left point and sent it to the goal line for Oiring. No one picked up Justice Christensen sneaking towards the goal from the right, and Oiring put a picture perfect pass on his tape before Christensen wired home his sixth of the season.

At 14:23, the Raiders made it three unanswered goals to start the game when Niall Crocker stopped the Wheat Kings from clearing the puck out of their zone at the right side of the blueline. Crocker had to due some work to hold on to the puck, but he found some space and fed Dragicevic streaking to the middle, and Dragicevic fired a onetimer into a crowd where Ty Meunier got a tip and scored his seventh of the season.

After 1: Raiders 3 – 0 Wheat Kings, shots 14-11 Raiders

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The second period belonged to the Wheat Kings on the scoresheet despite a very even period. Even though the Raiders had the powerplay for the first 26 seconds of the period, Brandon came out as the aggressors and quickly took momentum, and Marcus Nguyen would find the back of the net on a rebound in tight at the 1:49 mark to crack the score open.

With both teams unsuccessful on their first powerplays of the game, the Wheat Kings struck first on their second opportunity. At 16:05, Caleb Hadland put a shot on goal from the top of the slot that was stopped, and a mess of bodies went looking for the rebound but it eventually popped out to Hadland again who buried his own rebound to bring the Wheat Kings back to within one.

After 2: Raiders 3 – 2 Wheat Kings, shots 16-14 Raiders, 30-25 Raiders overall

The Raiders got their own powerplay goal to keep their spot at the top of the league at the 7:24 mark. Brayden Dube would get a pass the goal line, and he would drive out front and tried to jam the puck into the back of the net. He caused all kinds of chaos in front of the net but maintained puck possession, and he found Ty Meunier waiting for a onetimer on the right side. Meunier instead sent a pass across to ice to Daxon Rudolph wide open on the left side of the slot, and he hammered the puck into the open net for his second of the season.

At 12:01, the Wheat Kings powerplay scored again and again it was Hadland. Joby Baumuller worked the puck down the right wall before sending the puck cross ice for a onetimer from Matteo Michels. He was stopped, but Hadland again found the rebound and tapped in his second of the game.

The Raiders added one more insurance goal at the 13:50 mark when Krzysztof Macias came down the left wall hard on the forecheck, and he threw a great hit that freed up the puck. Macias quickly collected the puck, got his head up, and found Harrison Lodewyk in the slot to fire and score his fifth of the season to cap off a great win.

FINAL: Raiders 5 – 3 Wheat Kings, shots 16-11 Wheat Kings, 41-41 overall

The Raiders have strung together two wins now for the first time since losing to Red Deer on December 6, which snapped the Raiders eight game point streak at the time.

Lukas Dragicevic has been adding assists for his team all season, but suddenly he’s started finding the back of the net. Three of his four goals on the season have come in the last three games.

With a goal and an assist in Saturday’s home game and two goals in the previous game in Brandon, Ty Meunier has four points in his last two games against Brandon.

Both goaltenders were tested early and often, and Max Hildebrand was excellent with 38 saves on 41 shots for a 0.927 save percentage on the night.

The Raiders are done at home before the Christmas break, but they will play two more games on the road starting with Edmonton on Tuesday and Calgary on Wednesday.