CANES host Raiders
Hurricanes were looking for their third straight WHL home win to start the season last night at the Enmax Centre —
On a night where both goaltenders were kept busy, the Lethbridge Hurricanes came through with the win. The Canes downed the Prince Albert Raiders 4-1 in Western Hockey League action Friday at the Enmax Centre to improve to 3-2 on the season.
Lethbridge opened a 1-0 lead after the first period and Hurricanes veteran Tanner Nagel struck for what would stand up as the game-winner three minutes into the second before the hosts added two more in third, including a nice individual rush from Jayden Davis, to give the Hurricanes a little breathing room with a 3-1 lead.
At the other end, Hurricanes goaltender Stuart Skinner came up with some key stops when his team needed it, kicking out 35 of 36 shots to earn the first star honours, just ahead of Raiders goaltender Curtis Meger, who made 25 saves in a second-star performance.
“Davis coming in and scoring that goal, a big goal, obviously,” said Hurricanes had coach Brent Kisio. “I thought we had a great start tonight. I liked our start, we played hard. We had a bit of a lapse, but that’s what Stuart Skinner is there for. He made some big saves for us when we were kind of struggling. I thought we had a good third period as well and played well in the first period.”
Calen Addison provided the sole goal of the first, scoring his first on a five-one-three 5:02 into the game.
It stayed that way until early in the second when Nagel took a behindthe-net feed from Dylan Cozens and shovelled a shot past Meger for a 2-0 lead.
“Cozens was battling for the puck and it was a great heads-up play,” said Nagel. “He has really good ice vision and he saw me in the. I was able to get a shot off and get it past the goalie.”
The tempo and physicality picked up in the second with a pair of scraps as the Raiders upped the pressure.
Skinner was called upon to come up big early in the second, sprawling and kicking out the right pad and denying Prince Albert’s Eric Pearce, who was left all alone in front of the Lethbridge goal to keep it 2-0.
The Raiders didn’t miss on their next chance as Sean Montgomery hammered a loose puck past Skinner from the right circle to cut the Hurricanes lead to 2-1 7:59 into the second.
Lethbridge native D-Jay Jerome almost notched the equalizer early in the third, dancing around Hurricanes defenceman Koltrane Wilson, but Skinner turned the chance aside to keep the hosts 2-1 lead intact before Davis drained the insurance marker with 6:16 remaining.
With Meger on the bench, Canes captain Giorgio Estephan added an empty netter with 1:33 to go.
“It was a great game by everyone,” said Nagel. “Everyone was out there working hard. Stu played unreal, he always does. It doesn’t matter what the situation, we can always count on him. JD really stepped it up and played awesome. He got his feet going and was good with the puck. It was just hard work and that’s what we need from everyone.”
The Hurricanes face a tough test on the road as they travel to Swift Current on Tuesday to face the Broncos, who remained undefeated at 4-0-0 with a 6-2 win over the Saskatoon Blades Friday night in Saskatoon.
Hurricanes are back home Friday when the Everett Silvertips come calling to the Enmax Centre at 7 p.m.