Usually in the playoffs, teams will look for contributors from some of the most unlikely of sources. The Prince Albert Raiders are no different despite being a high powered offense through the entire regular season and playoffs. They’ve received help every step of the way from the usual cast of characters.
A new character emerged in the game played in Prince Albert on Friday night. Aliaskei Protas showed everyone why he was a good selection by the Raiders in the first round of the 2018 CHL Import draft, scoring three times in the Raiders 4-0 win over the Edmonton Oil Kings.
“It’s unforgettable for me. I was so happy,” Protas told PANow.com about the moment “Thanks for the boys, thanks for the fans. It was the biggest night for me, probably, in my career.”
The win gave the Raiders the series lead, 3-2, with the teams heading back to Edmonton for a potentially decisive Game 6 on Sunday afternoon.
The Oil Kings found themselves down a man when the Raiders took advantage of the odd man situation.
With less than 30 seconds left on the power play the green and gold passed the puck around the offensive zone with ease. The Oil Kings defensemen did not want to engage the Raiders players as the puck sailed around the point. Kaiden Guhle found Protas open to the left of Dylan Myskiw and his shot from inside the circle gave the Raiders the lead.
They would not look back.
Less than six minutes later, the forecheck of Prince Albert lead to another goal by the hardworking team.
Brett Leason got the puck behind the Oil King net and sent it up the boards. Protas again from about the same spot as his first goal, slid the puck towards the Oil Kings net. The slow moving puck hit the Oil Kings defender in the skate as Myskiw was playing to the original shot. The puck slid right through Myskiw and the Raiders had a two goal lead.
The second period featured a goaltending clinic by Dylan Myskiw, making timely save after timely save, many of them of the five alarm variety. Unfortunately for him, the Oil Kings offense could not mount any sort of pressure aside from a single chance that was easily steered aside by Ian Scott.
Through 40 minutes the scored remained 2-0 and the Raiders had 22 shots to the Oil Kings 19.
The Raiders continued to make goals out of seemingly nothing once the third period continued. The dagger to the heart of the Oil Kings came at 5:22 of the third period when Protas made a rink wide pass to a streaking Brett Leason. The draft eligible, leading scorer in the regular season blew past the Edmonton defenseman and fired a shot from the circle to the left of Myskiw. It was his fifth goal of the playoffs and Protas’ third point of the night.
With the game out of reach and the Oil Kings a man down, the Raiders continued to apply pressure. One second after the penalty expired Protas tallied his hat trick goal with just 25 seconds left in the game. Again from the left side circle, Protas’ shot got by Myskiw. Protas now has eight playoff goals, just three behind his regular season total of 11.
Following the goal a potentially new tradition of throwing cowbells on the ice emerged, although rink staff were quick to ask the crowd to stop doing so.
The other side was none too happy about the outcome of the game. “It was embarrassing what we did today,” Oil Kings defenceman Matthew Robertson told PANow.com. “We just need to come out and control what we can control.”
“Obviously this wasn’t the result we wanted in tonight’s game,” stated head coach Brad Lauer on OilKings.ca “I really liked our first period. They got a few good bounces and then in the second and third, P.A. (Prince Albert) played well.”
Just notes… The three stars of the night went to Protas, Leason and Scott. The Raiders netminder earned his third shutout of the 2019 WHL playoffs, stopping all 24 Oil Kings shots. Dylan Myskiw made 26 saves in the loss. The Raiders power play was 1-for-3, the Oil Kings did not have a power play in the game. Protas lead all players with 5 shots on net, Scott Atkinson of the Oil Kings had 4. Announced attendance was 3289 (a sellout)
