It is sometimes hard to remember that Jake Neighbours turned 17 less than a month ago. With the playoffs in full swing all he’s done so far is put points on the board and score meaningful goals. This one came with 5:11 to play in the first overtime period, a shot from the boards at the hash marks that got by Prince Albert Raiders goaltender Ian Scott.
“Jake’s been a beast for us,” Oil Kings head coach Brad Lauer told PANow.com. “He just turned 17, and he plays big minutes for us. He plays a big game for us. He’s plays a playoff type game, the guys that go in, that forecheck hard, they’re tough on the wall, they protect the puck well and go to the net. When you do that, especially in the playoffs, you’re going to be rewarded.”
For the first time in the playoffs, the Raiders lost at home. The series winds up tied at one and moves to Edmonton for games three and four.
It didn’t start out looking very good for the Oil Kings as the Raiders scored within four minutes of one another. Before the game was 10 minutes old, the Oil Kings were behind the eight ball.
The first goal saw Noah Gregor score his fifth of the playoffs on a turnover in the Oil Kings end of the ice. With the puck in their own zone, the Oil Kings attempted to pass the puck back towards the net front area, in the hopes of getting it to their defender. Instead Gregor was in the area and stole the puck and put a shot on Dylan Myskiw before he even knew what was happening. 3289 fans went wild as their team was yet again out in front.
After the Oil Kings forecheck could not muster a good attempt on Ian Scott, the Raiders broke out of their zone three-on-two. Justin Nachbaur and Jakob Brook played give-and-go before Nachbaur found himself in front of the Oil Kings net. He just needed to smack home the puck to make it 2-0 Raiders. It was Nachbaur’s first of the playoffs and comes on the same night he returned from a two-game suspension.
On a power play just before the 14 minute mark of the first period, the Oil Kings drew to within a goal. With 10 seconds left on the man-advantage, the Oil Kings got the puck to the blue line where Matthew Robertson was stationed. He made a move and wristed a shot at the net. With Scott screened the puck made it’s way behind him and the red light signaled Robertson’s third goal of the playoffs.
The Oil Kings were not done there. On another power play late in the frame, Andrew Fyten got in on the action tallying his fourth goal of the second season. After winning puck battles deep in the Raiders end, Fyten put himself in front of Scott and wasn’t cleared out, Robertson’s point shot was deflected by Fyten and Scott had no chance to make the save off the redirect.
“We fought a lot harder to get to the net,” said head coach Brad Lauer to OilKings.ca. “Our power play was able to score which is good to see. But honestly, we can even do better. Keep going to that area.”
Edmonton had to be happy with the result of the period despite finding themselves down two before the game was seven minutes old, they were able to claw back and send the teams down the tunnel tied at two.
The second period was slow moving and methodical. Neither team really wanted to make a mistake that would put their team down a goal and it showed. While there were three penalties in the period, neither team could generate much offense.
Edmonton outshot Prince Albert 8-6 in the period and the game remained tied at twos.
Again the Raiders found some magic early in the third period, taking another lead in the game. This time it was Aliaksei Protas giving the home team the one goal advantage.
With the puck deep in Oil Kings territory, Protas collected the puck and went behind the Oil Kings net. An attempted wraparound was denied by Myskiw but there was a rebound and Protas collected that as well. He beat Myskiw high blocker side and it was 3-2 Raiders.
Not to be out done the Oil Kings followed up with a goal of their own less than three minutes later.
On a rush the diminutive captain of the Oil Kings Trey Fix-Wolansky scored the goal that would send the game to overtime. Vince Loschiavo got the puck to Fix-Wolansky while on the rush, in tight, and the Columbus Blue Jackets prospect caught Scott unprepared for the quick shot to tie the game at three. The goal was his fourth of the playoffs.
With the overtime goal, the Oil Kings took their first lead of the series, when it mattered most. The Raiders have not trailed at any point in the two games and the series is tied at one heading back to Edmonton. It was also the Raiders sixth straight overtime loss in the playoffs dating back to May 1st, 2005 when they beat the Brandon Wheat Kings in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals.
Game Notes: The three stars were Neighbours, Brook and Robertson. Dante Hannoun lead all players with 7 shots on net, Robertson had 5 for the Oil Kings. Sean Montgomery was 14-for-23 in the faceoff dot, the Raiders won 39-of-70 faceoffs overall. Edmonton was 2-for-4 on the power play while Prince Albert was 0-for-1.
