Prince Albert Raiders blank Edmonton Oil Kings in Game 7 to advance in WHL playoffs
It’s fitting that the Prince Albert Raiders saved their best game for last in their WHL opening-round playoff series against the Edmonton Oil Kings, as it was a win on home ice that has propelled the team to the second round.
Off a 30-save shutout from veteran goaltender Max Hildebrand, the Raiders earned a 5-0 victory at the Art Hauser Centre over the Oil Kings to capture Game 7 Tuesday night and advance to the Eastern Conference semi-finals.
The Raiders rallied in the series to come back from a 3-1 deficit after Game 4 last Wednesday, winning three consecutive elimination games to knock off Edmonton and keep their season alive.
Aiden Oiring opened the scoring for Prince Albert close to eight minutes into the game, whacking home his sixth goal of the season on the doorstep off a point shot from Lukas Dragicevic.
Around six minutes later, the Raiders doubled their lead, with rookie forward Ty Meunier picking up the puck out of a battle in the corner and sniping his first career WHL playoff goal past Edmonton goaltender Ethan Simcoe.
It would stay a 2-0 game for the home side until the late stages of the second period, when a point shot from Dragicevic was deflected by an Edmonton stick through traffic to make it a 3-0 lead for Prince Albert.
The Raiders sealed the game in the third period with a pair of power-play goals, first from a deflection in tight by Niall Crocker just past the midway point of the period and then former Oil King Rilen Kovacevic hammering the clincher with a one-time shot with five and a half minutes left.
Dragicevic finished the game with one goal and four points, netting five goals and 12 points over the course of the series.
Waiting for the Raiders in the Eastern semi-finals will be the conference’s top seed in the Medicine Hat Tigers, with that second-round series set to begin on Saturday night in Medicine Hat.
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