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Rebels power play comes up short in 3-2 loss to Raiders

Feb 23, 2018 | 9:17 PM

The Red Deer Rebels have lost back to back games for the first time in over a month after falling 3-2 to the Prince Albert Raiders Friday night at the Enmax Centrium.

It was a game where the Rebels were close and had several chances to capitalize on the power play, but came up short.

“This was a game where I didn’t think we had enough intensity and emotion. There wasn’t enough urgency,” Rebels GM/head coach Brent Sutter said. “What bothers me is it’s two games in a row. We’ve come back off the road trip and some things have crept in that I saw earlier in the year. Now we have to see what the character of the group is going to be like here moving forward, how they’re going to handle it. It starts with your captain and works right through the lineup.”

Prince Albert opened the scoring just 14 seconds into the game when Kody McDonald ripped a shot past the glove side of Rebels goalie Ethan Anders. Jordy Stallard put the Raiders ahead 2-0 when he fired a shot off the post and in late in the opening period.

Alex Morozoff put the Rebels on the board 3:02 into period two when he stole the puck, found a lane and beat Raiders goalie Ian Scott for his fifth goal of the year.

The Rebels pulled even with a power play goal at the 17:38 mark as Jacob Herauf’s point shot bounced off of Josh Tarzwell and in for the Red Deer native’s ninth goal of the season.

With less than a minute left in the period, Brett Leason beat Anders to send the Raiders to the intermission with a 3-2 lead.

Prince Albert came in to the game as the second-best penalty killing team in the WHL, and they proved it big time in the third period of this game. The Raiders killed off four straight penalties, including a two minute 5 on 3 Rebels power play, to maintain their one goal lead.

Scott took it from there, making several big saves including one on Chris Douglas with only a few ticks left on the clock as Prince Albert held on for the road win.

Red Deer outshot Prince Albert 31-23 on the night and were held to 1/8 on the power play. The Raiders were 0/1 with the man advantage.

“You look at the power plays tonight. You get a five-on-three for two minutes and don’t get one shot on net,” Sutter lamented. “You lose every faceoff on the power play and you’re starting down in your own zone right away… It’s not the way we want to play.”

The Rebels are right back in action Saturday night as they welcome the high flying Swift Current Broncos to the Enmax Centrium for a 7 p.m. game (106.7 The Drive).