The Regina Pats (2-11-1-0) blew a 2-1 lead by allowing five goals in the third period, including an empty netter, falling 6-3 to the Raiders (10-2-3-0) Friday night in Prince Albert.
The Pats were strong out of the gate, nearly equaling Prince Albert’s shots on goal in the first period with the home side leading 13-12 after one. However both sides were unable to score the game’s opening goal.
In the second period, Spencer Moe gave the Raiders the first lead just a minute and a half in, making it 1-0 PA.
Regina responded a few minutes later thanks to Drew Englot’s first goal of the season, tying the game up 1-1. With under two minutes left in the period, Logan Nijhoff found his third of the campaign to give the Pats a 2-1 lead before the second intermission.
Despite two strong periods from the visitors, they were unable to keep up with the defending champions in the final frame.
Two power play goals two minutes apart from Ozzy Wiesblatt and Reece Vitelli put the Raiders back up 3-2 with half a period to play. Aliaksei Protas and Brayden Watts added a couple more to extend their lead to 5-2 with a few minutes left in regulation.
Nijhoff managed to score his second of the night at 17:33 to give Regina a sliver of hope. With goaltender Max Paddock on the bench for the extra attacker, Moe sent the puck into the empty net to solidify a 6-3 win for the Raiders at the Art Hauser Centre.
“I thought it was two of our best periods of the year, and we really pushed a good team,” said head coach David Struch after the game.
“We were exposed a little bit with our defence in the third and their speed. We’re going to give them some credit, but there’s lots of good things to take out of this game.”
Paddock made 35 saves in the loss. The Pats were outshot 41-26 with the power play going 0/3, while Prince Albert had a successful night on the man advantage at 2/4.
Regina returns to the ice on Sunday afternoon when they host the Red Deer Rebels at 4:00 p.m. at the Brandt Centre.