RAIDERS 5 PATS 3

Prince Albert, SK – Make that four wins in a row. The Raiders defeated the Regina Pats 5-3 Tuesday night at the Art Hauster Centre in Prince Albert to extend their winning streak and keep their flickering playoff hopes alive.

Raider goalie Nick McBride was sensational in net stopping 55 of 58 Regina shots was named the game’s #1 star.

Jordan Tkatch opened the scoring for the Raiders midway through the first. The Raiders took a 1-0 lead into the second.

Mackenze Stewart netted his fifth goal of the season 2:28 into the second period, making it 2-0 Raiders. Five minutes later, Jordan Tkatch added his second of the night, and 11th of the season, to give the green and gold a three-goal lead. They didn’t stop there as Matteo Gennaro got a breakaway with just over 6 minutes to play in the frame, coming off the bench and burying the breakaway past Regina goaltender Daniel Wapple. Despite leading 4-0 after two, the Raiders trailed 33-18 in shots.

Rough stuff and a Pats comeback were the story of the third period. Regina’s Adam Brooks scored less than two minutes into the frame and again off the stick of Braden Christoffer at the 6:36 mark.  Regina’s Pavel Padakin scored on the powerplay with 4:16 remaining and their goalie pulled, cutting P.A.’s lead to 4-3. With the Regina net empty in the final two minutes, Raider forward Reid Gardiner blasted home a shot from the neutral zone with just under a minute remaining to give the Raiders a 5-3 victory.

Regina outshot the Raiders 58-24 in the contest while going 1/2 on the powerplay.  P.A. never had a man advantage situation in the contest.

The Pats (33-22-5-4) visit the Swift Current Broncos Wednesday evening at 7:00 on 620 CKRM (Press Box Sports Bar Pregame Show at 6:35 pm).