By Troy Gillard (Twitter: @Troy_Gillard)

Hagel’s hat trick not enough as Rebels drop Game 2 in Prince Albert

Mar 23, 2019 | 9:42 PM

After being blanked in their playoff opener the Red Deer Rebels came through with some offence Saturday night at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert. But it still wasn’t enough as the Raiders beat the Rebels 6-4 to take a 2-0 lead in the best of seven WHL Eastern Conference Quarterfinals series.

Aliaksei Protas opened the scoring for Prince Albert 6:08 into the opening period. Sergei Sapego made it 2-0 with a power play goal at 8:32 as the Raiders dominated the opening minutes of the game.

The Rebels finally scored their first goal of the series, on their first shot on goal of game two, at the 14:55 mark as Chris Douglas tipped one past Ian Scott for a power play tally.

Sapego, however, netted his second goal of the period past Ethan Anders less than two minutes later for a 3-1 Raiders lead.

Brandon Hagel pulled the Rebels even with a pair of goals a minute apart in the second period. The first one came on a power play at the eight minute mark after Brett Leason was handed a major penalty and game misconduct for checking from behind. Hagel’s second goal came even strength at 9:00.

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Brayden Pachal put Prince Albert back in the lead 4-3 at 11:14 of the middle frame.

Protas struck again 2:08 into period three for a 5-3 Raiders lead. Ozzy Weisblatt scored his second goal of the series at 7:47 for a commanding 6-3 lead.

Hagel netted his hat trick goal to make it a 6-4 game as the Rebels worked the power play to perfection allowing the Chicago Blackhawks prospect to score on crease-side tip in with 9:36 left to play. But that was as close as Red Deer would get in this one.

Prince Albert outshot Red Deer 34-26 on the night and was 1-for-3 on the power play while the Rebels were 3-for-5 with the man advantage.

The series now shifts to Red Deer for games three and four at the Westerner Park Centrium. Game three goes Tuesday night at 7 p.m. with the broadcast on 106.7 THE DRIVE starting at 6:30;.