Prince Albert 4 Lethbridge 1
The Prince Albert Raiders (29-25-9-2) have picked the right time to be playing their best hockey of the season.
They beat the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes (32-26-6-0) 4-1 on Saturday night, earning their sixth straight win. They did so by beating a team sporting their own three-game winning streak coming in
The recent win streak has the Raiders now four points up on Saskatoon for the last wild card spot in the Eastern Conference with seven games to play for each team.
They are also four points back of Brandon for the first wild card position and a possible match up with the Medicine hat Tigers, who currently have 25 less points than the East Division leading Moose Jaw Warriors.
Cole Fonstad had two points for the Raiders and Ian Scott stopped 25 of 26 in the Raiders win.
Logan Flodell stopped 31 of 35 for the Hurricanes, who are now four points behind Medicine Hat in the Central Division.
Dylan Cozens opened the scoring with his 21st this year, 11:11 into the first for the ‘Canes.
Bryaden Pachal knotted the score at one in the second and Vojtech Budik scored the eventual winner, on the power play in the third.
Max Martin and Fonstad added some insurance in the 4-1 win. The three goals from the blue line continues a recent trend of the Raiders blue line pitching in offensively, while still providing stalwart defense.
The Raiders now look to Edmonton to provide their next test. They will be hoping the Oil Kings do them a favor on Tuesday when they play in Saskatoon before visiting the Art Hauser Centre Wednesday.
Lethbridge continues their trek through the East Division with a game in Brandon on Tuesday.
Regina 3 @Calgary 2 (OT)
Sam Steel with the OT winner tonight as Regina beat Calgary 3-2. pic.twitter.com/HlNeZu3TpC
— Brandon Rivers (@hodgesheroes) March 4, 2018
If there was one guy on a strong Regina Pats (34-25-5-1) team that the Calgary Hitmen (19-35-8-2) did not want to let behind their defense in overtime Saturday night, it had to be reigning WHL MVP Sam Steel.
That’s just what happened as Cam Hebig made a heads-up play and found Steel at the Calgary blue line with a nice pass and the Anaheim Ducks prospect went in alone on Calgary goalie Nick Schneider and beat him with a backhand shot 32 seconds into overtime.
Steel’s goal completed a strong comeback by the Past who fell behind 2-0 a few minutes into the third period after Mark Kastelic scored.
Earlier in the game, Tristen Nielsen had scored unassisted and the Hitmen had the Memorial Cup hosts on the ropes.
Then Aaron Hyman netted a big goal 38 seconds after Kastelic’s marker and Regina had some life as they had finally beaten Schneider.
Jake Leschyshyn forced the overtime as he followed up a chance by Emil Oksanen with Schneider scrambling.
Hebig assisted on all three Regina goals, giving him seven points over his last three games.
The Pats stay a single point ahead of Brandon for third in the East Division with the win, while Calgary stays two points ahead of the last-place in the WHL Edmonton Oil Kings.
Schneider stopped 31 of 34 for Calgary, while Max Paddock turned away 23 of 25.
Regina heads to Edmonton next to take on the Oil Kings Sunday, while Calgary stays home to host the Red Deer Rebels.
Victoria 7 @Prince George 3
Congrats to Matthew Phillips for getting the most points in a season in franchise history @victoriaroyals#SorrySanto #102 pic.twitter.com/3QITiEnDWd
— matt auerbach (@m_auerbach) March 4, 2018
The Prince George Cougars (23-34-4-4) have battled hard against the best the B.C. Division has over the last four games.
They took two vs Kelowna earlier this week and won last night in overtime vs Victoria as well.
They ran out of magic on home ice as the Victoria Royals (36-24-4-2) scored four times in the third period to turn a 3-3 tie after 40, into a 7-3 win.
With Kelowna losing at home to Spokane, the Royals get two points closer to the division-leading Rockets with both teams having six games left to play. They are now four points back, though the reeling Rockets have dropped four straight and seem very catchable at this point.
Victoria next plays when they host Spokane Tuesday and Wednesday and Kelowna stays home to battle Vancouver on Wednesday.
Matthew Phillips had three assists in the game and now has the highest point total in a season in franchise history.
Tyler Soy also had a three-point night and Griffen Outhouse coming in for Dean McNabb (13 of 16) to stop all nine P.G. shots in the third provided the Royals with the stability they needed to unleash on the Cougars in the game’s final frame.
Soy opened the scoring 12:02 in with his 33rd this year, on the power play. Aaron Boyd answered with his 12th, three minutes later to tie the score at one.
Scott Walford notched his first this year later in the period to give Victoria a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes.
The Cougars tied the game early in the second as Brogan O’Brien drove hard down the right wing and beat Outhouse inside the far post.
Jared Freadrich fired a low shot from the point on the power play, by Cougars goalie Tavin Grant to put his team back on top.
Jackson Leppard had the answer for the Cougars as he tracked down a rebound to beat McNabb for his 14th this year.
Then in the game’s final frame, the Royals came out firing. They out shot the Cougars 16-9 and found the net behind Grant four times.
Noah Gregor started the barrage a couple minutes in and Kade Jensen added some insurance just over a minute later.
Chaz Reddekopp then came out of the box with under nine minutes to go and got sent in on a breakaway by Mitchell Prowse. He beat Grant, pretty much sealing this one.
Tarun Fizer added Victoria’s third power play goal in the game to make this a 7-3 final. It was his first career WHL goal.
Everett 2 Seattle 1 (OT)
Goal! Bajkov! New Silvertips all-time goal leader!
A: Fonteyne, Richards. pic.twitter.com/2YZ9lnAcsI
— Shaun Holt (@AuthorShaunHolt) March 4, 2018
Four times over nine games in the season series between the Seattle Thundebrirds (30-24-8-2) and Everett Silvertips (43-18-2-3) the two teams have gone to extra time.
The script in those four games has been this: if the game is decided in overtime, Everett wins, if not, Seattle takes it in the shootout.
The latest in the tight season series went in Everett on Saturday night.
After Matthew Wedman was whistled for slashing in the overtime session, Connor Dewar redirected a shot from Patrick Bajkov by Seattle goalie Liam Hughes to give Everett the 2-1 OT win.
The goal was Dewar’s sixth game-winning-goal this year.
Carter Hart did not set the shutout record, but he did stop 17 of 18 to get the win.
Hughes was much busier on the other end of the ice and gave Seattle every chance to stay in the game. He turned away 44 of 46.
After facing 40 shots in Portland, Hughes has looked at 86 shots in a two-game span and was a huge reason they were able to take three of a possible four points, despite getting outshot and out chanced.
Everett opened the scoring 7:08 into the game. Matt Fonteyne dangled around Austin Strand and got a shot in on Hughes. After Hughes stopped him, Patrick Bajkov chipped in the rebound.
Seattle’s most reliable line of late came to bat for the again to tie the game in the second. Zack Andrusiak notched his eighth point in three games as he dished to Noah Philp and Philp beat Hart low to the glove side.
Philp has a five-game point streak and six over his last three games.
As has been the case this year in the rivalry, tensions were high. Seemingly after every whistle near a goalie’s crease, players exchanged greetings.
Everett was one-for-five on the power play, while Seattle was zero-for-two.
Everett and Seattle both play their third game in three nights Sunday. Everett head to Langley for a game with Vancouver and Seattle heads back to Kent to host the Portland Winterhawks.
