PRINCE ALBERT, SK. -The Lethbridge Hurricanes erased a one goal deficit a few times and came back to beat the Prince Albert Raiders 6-4 Wednesday night at the Art Hauser Centre.
The Hurricanes came out strong in the first few minutes of this hockey game, but it would be the Raiders who would open the scoring. Sawyer Lange's shot from the right point beat Chris Tai in the Lethbridge goal to give the home team a 1-0 lead. The Hurricanes would get back onto even terms with a power goal, courtesy of Russ Maxwell. A nice blind pass from Axel Blomqvist from behind the Raiders goal. Maxwell beat Luke Siemens for his team-leading 15th goal of the season. That tied the game at 1-1, but Prince Albert would get that one back just over a minute later. Logan McVeigh tipped a shot by Tai to give the Raiders a 2-1 lead, which would hold up through the first 20 minutes of play. PA held a slight edge in shots 10-8.
In the second, the Hurricanes would tie the game up early. Jamal Watson's pass to Jay Merkley would go off a Prince Albert player in front and past Siemens to even the score at 2-2. That was Watson's 8th of the season. Four minutes later the Hurricanes would take their first lead of the night. Sam McKechnie put in a rebound off Siemens for his 12th goal of the season, putting Lethbridge ahead 3-2. The momentum would again swing back into Prince Albert's favour as the Raiders would score a pair of goals to taken the lead again. First Mark McNeill would tie the score at 3-3 and then 3 minutes later Jonas Knutsen would fire a shot by Tai to give P.A. the lead once again, this time 4-3. That's the way the score would stay through two periods of play. The Raiders had the edge in shots 21-17.
In the third, the Hurricanes would charge back to win the game. Jaimen Yakubowski tied the game at 4-4 with his 10th of the season and then shortly after that on the power play Axel Blomqvist tapped in what turned out to be the game winner, scoring his 3rd goal of the year to put the Hurricanes ahead 5-4. Prince Albert pulled the goal late to try and find the tying goal, but the Canes would ice it with an empty netter from Jaimen Yakubowski, his 2nd of the night and 11th of the season to seal the deal and give Lethbridge a 6-4 come-from-behind win. The victory ends the Hurricanes 6 game losing skid and improves their record to 14-13-1-2 on the season. Yakubowski was the game's number one star with 2 goals and 2 assists. The Hurricanes power play came up big time in this game gong 2/4. The Raiders finished the night 0/3. Chris Tai recorded his first ever win in goal in the WHL.
The Hurricanes gave Chris Tai his second WHL start in goal Wednesday night. Tai played for a the first this season a few weeks ago in Regina when the Canes lost 4-0. Lethbridge also called up Kolten Olynen for this game. Olynek is having an outstanding season in the Saskatchewan Midget AAA league. He's the leading scorer in that league with 15 goals and 19 assists in 16 games with the Saskatoon Contacts.
NEXT UP
The Lethbridge Hurricanes play two more games on the road this weekend as they travel to Medicine Hat on Saturday (Dec. 1) and then it's off to Edmonton for a late afternoon game at Rexall Place Sunday (Dec. 2). The game in Medicine Hat is a 7:30 pm MST start. The Tigers have lost 7 games in a row heading into action this weekend. The game Sunday in Edmonton starts at 4:00 pm MST. The Canes return home to host the Oil Kings next Wednesday (Dec. 5).
Thanks,
Pat
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NICE! I was hoping Maxwell wouldn't score in the first 20 seconds again... THAT didn't work... twice.
ReplyDeleteMugs up to Preston for giving start to Tai; didn't see that coming! And good to stick with him for the entire game. Congrats to TAI!
Maybe there is hope for the PP yet!? 2/4 vs PA at 0/3 = victory!
Great game for Yakubowski. Real nice 3 game stretch for him!
Better game for Ax-Blom... GOOD.
Favorite Preston pre-game interview comment so far this year, "They don't have a better team than us, they just have a better record." RP /
Enjoy the movie, lads!! - Richie.
Very happy for Tai. First W is huge for him and the team. HLR
ReplyDeleteGutsy move by Preston! Good on Christopher Tai to fight off a so-so 2nd period and come up big in the 3rd. His performance is huge for his confidence and his teammates.
ReplyDeleteI did not hear Preston's pre-game comment,but that too was a ballsey statement, but in some respects true.
Hope the Canes continue the Tiger's losing streak.
Prediction....Yak Attack will be wearing a letter next season! In fact based on work ethic, I can see Maxwell, Yakubowski and Pilon each with at leastan "A".
RJ
Preston didn't say the Hurricanes were a better team, just that PA was no better. That echoes what was said on the opening season media roundtable by both me and Paul Kingsmith and agreed upon by Fred and Pat. There's parity in the East, and even Calgary can't boast a top-flight lineup. Edmonton has a ton of talent, so does Saskatoon, but it hasn't really come together yet. Worth remembering as well that Henry and Hood haven't played in awhile.
ReplyDelete-- Dylan
I'm not giving ANY props to the coaching staff for this win. THey dumped the loss in Saskatoon squarely at the feet of the players, so I'm giving the players 100% of this victory!! It had nothing to do with the coaching because the PP and PK still suck! Go ahead and give the coach credit for starting the backup, but I'm not. This is a players ONLY victory!
ReplyDeleteCongrats to Tai for earning his first win in the Dub!
Darren