The Regina Pats fell to the Prince Albert Raiders Tuesday night 5-2 at the Art Hauser Centre.

The Raiders opened the scoring in the first period with Aliaksei Protas’ 27th goal of the season. Protas would score his second of the game later in the period on the power play, giving the Raiders a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes.

Riley Krane cut the lead in half with a short handed marker early in the second period, but Ozzy Weisblatt was able to respond for Prince Albert later in the period with another power play goal for the Raiders.

Ilya Usau would score his 20th of the season in the early part of the third period, and Kyle Walker would answer for the Pats about mid-way through the final stanza, making it a 4-2 game. From there, Spencer Moe would add an empty net goal in the final minute, insuring a 5-2 Prince Albert win.

The game was the first and only time this season the Pats had to face their former goaltender Max Paddock, who was traded ahead of the deadline earlier this season. Paddock made 15 saves in the win while his former back-up Donovan Buskey made 34 saves in the loss.

Pats Head Coach Dave Struch spoke post-game on 620 CKRM, and was quite critical of his team’s effort against the Raiders.

“I think there was five or six guys that took the night off, and that’s unfortunate because when we play a team like Prince Albert, who I regard pretty high up there as far as skill level and work ethic, we need the full group.”

The Pats’ power play has gone cold, not scoring in their last 13 opportunities. Struch said that’s in large part to the quality of penalty kill units they have been playing against.

“When a team is as aggressive as Prince Albert is, you have to have some really top-end skilled guys to make the high-end plays under pressure, and we just don’t have that right now,” Struch said. “We have to work by committee to create opportunities.”

The Pats are back in action Friday night when they host the Saskatoon Blades at 7:00 PM.