Oiring steals OT win for Raiders

Aiden Oiring scored a controversial goal in overtime as the Prince Albert Raiders handed the Brandon Wheat Kings a 5-4 loss on Saturday at Assiniboine Credit Union Place.

Prince Albert (3-0-1-0) received its other goals from Evan Smith, Harrison Lodewyk, Ty Meunier and Max Heine, with Chase Surkan scoring twice, and Jaxon Jacobson and Nick Johnson also replying for Brandon (0-2-1-0) in front of a crowd of 2,457.

It’s the second game in a row Brandon has blown a lead in the third period, and their third straight loss of the new season.

“I thought this was the best game we’ve played so far,” Surkan said. “I think we just have to work on closing out games. There was maybe a missed call in overtime but we can’t control the refs.”

In overtime, Jacobson was knocked down by Oiring with a crosscheck in the neutral zone and the puck went into Brandon’s end, with Oiring in pursuit of Wheat Kings defenceman Dylan Ronald, who was tripped and crashed into the end boards.

Oiring then pounced on the puck and beat Kraus over his shoulder 57 seconds into extra time, bringing choruses of boos down from the crowd and a heated response from the normally restrained Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray.

“Besides us killing most of the third period, in my eyes a penalty is a penalty,” Murray said. “There were two by the same player on the same play, a crosscheck to the head at centre ice to get possession of the puck and then hands on the hips and a stick in the feet.

“The same guy then picks the puck up and scores. It’s frustrating because the guys play hard. I have to be careful so I don’t get in too much trouble, but it’s disappointing at this level that that’s the end of the game.”

The Raiders opened the scoring seven minutes 38 seconds into the game when Lodewyk and Smith came in on a two-on-one. Lodewyk fed the puck across the crease but Brandon goalie Jayden Kraus sprawled out to make an outstanding pad save. The puck then bounced in the air and over the stick of Wheat Kings defender Grayson Burzynski, and Smith popped it in.

The Wheat Kings tied it up five minutes later when Luke Mistelbacher sent Jacobson in on a breakaway and he lifted a backhander over the blocker of Prince Albert goalie Michal Orsulak.

The Wheat Kings handed the Raiders a second power play soon after, and Kraus again swept across the net to steal a goal.

The visitors retook the lead on an unforced error by the hosts. Mistelbacher sent a pass back to the point that missed Wheat Kings defenceman Cameron Allard, and ended up in the possession of Smith in the neutral zone.

He came into the Brandon zone and fed Lodewyk, with the overage forward wiring home a shot to put the Raiders up 2-1 with four minutes left in the opening frame.

The Wheat Kings went to a power play to start the second period, and after ringing a shot off the iron, Surkan was able to sneak a shot past a diving Orsulark, who nearly made an other-worldly save.

“They play diamond so I knew I would be open back there,” Surkan said of the Raiders penalty-killing system. “Jax made an unreal pass. The goalie almost saved it. It barely crossed the line.”

The goal tied the game 2-2 just 34 seconds into the middle frame.

Kraus continued to be Brandon’s best player, making back-to-back saves midway through the period, one on a two-on-one and the other on a shot from the slot. By that time, he had already made a handful of circus saves.

Brandon roared into the lead in rapid fashion 12 minutes into the period.

During a draw in the Prince Albert zone, Johnson was kicked out and Joby Baumuller came in and won it back. Surkan chipped the puck over to Johnson and he backhanded it along the ice past Orsulak.

Just 83 seconds laster, Surkan scored his second of the game when Baumuller’s shot hit the end boards and bounced back, and he tapped the puck into the slot for the rookie forward’s fourth goal.

“It was kind of a two-on-two,” Surkan said. “Joby shot it and it bounced off the boards. He made an unreal pass to me in the slot and I had an open net and can’t miss that.”

The Wheat Kings put themselves behind the 8-ball on the final play of the period when Burzynski was flagged with a charging major for an ill-conceived hit on Raiders forward Riley Boychuk along the boards. A melee ensued as Boychuk lay prone, but he was later able to skate off the ice on his own and returned in the third period.

Brandon’s penalty killers were terrific on the major, repeatedly icing the puck as they held the visitors to just three shots and no Grade A chances.

The Raiders drew back within a goal with 11:29 left on the clock after an unlucky shot block by Brandon defenceman Max Lavoie in which landed the puck on the stick on Meunier, who fired it past Kraus.

Four minutes later, Gio Pantelas was flagged for a minor penalty and Brandon again came up big, bending but never breaking. Just after the penalty, Mistelbacher came in one-one-one and made a ridiculous move to get in alone but was denied by Orsulak on the deke.

Brandon took their fifth penalty with 3:02 left, and the Raiders finally cashed in on the power play, with Heise tying the game on a wrap-around with 2:05 left to send the game to overtime and its controversial ending.

“I think it was a seesaw game,” Murray said. “It was a battle. We had a good second period where we put some pucks in the net. Anybody who watched the game recognizes that the penalty at the end of the second wasn’t ideal and we killed a couple more times there in the third and spent a lot of time shorthanded, and you’re hanging on by a thread and put yourself in a tough situation when you do that.”

Brandon went 1-for-1 on the power play, with Prince Albert scoring once in five chances.

“It was really good, especially with a five-minute power play,” Murray said of his penalty killers. “Klipper (Carter Klippenstein) also got a penalty at the end of the second and he’s one of our better PKers, so it was all hands on deck and I thought the guys did a real good job of all hands on deck and killing in the third.”

Kraus made 40 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Orsulak stopping 26 shots for the Raiders.

Prince Albert head coach Ryan McDonald was pleased with his team’s ability to stay in the game just 24 hours after they beat the Regina Pats.

“I really liked our effort,” McDonald said. “There were times when we weren’t great but we stuck with it, stuck with the process and continued to fight until the bitter end. We got rewarded with a late power-play goal and in overtime.”

ICINGS: Brandon skated without injured D Merrek Arpin, plus healthy scratches F Ben Binder Nord, F Ryan Boyce, F Prabh Bhathal and D Nigel Boehm … Nick Johnson and Mistelbacher led the Wheat Kings with five shots each on net and both had two points … The game took two hours, 25 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Prince Albert won 32-25 … The Wheat Kings have a pair of home games next weekend, facing the Edmonton Oil Kings on Saturday at 6, and the Saskatoon Blades on Sunday at 4.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @PerryBergson