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Written by Dale Woodard
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Wednesday, 18 November 2009 |
There were some exchanged chances as the Lethbridge Hurricanes clashed with the Prince Albert Raiders in Western Hockey League play Wednesday night at the Enmax Centre.
But while the Raiders were able to cash in a few of their chances, such wasn't the case for the ’Canes.
That lack of finish translated into a road shutout as the Raiders headed out of town with a 3-0 victory.
“We did have some opportunities,” said Hurricanes associate coach Matt Kabayama. “I think we gave him (Raiders goalie Garrett Zemlak) too many looks. We needed more traffic around the net and make it a bit more hectic. We had some good opportunities, but we didn't capitalize.”
The Raiders drew first blood on a generous bounce when Ryan Harrison notched his sixth of the season 12:08 into the first as Prince Albert nursed a 1-0 lead into the first intermission, outshooting the 'Canes 14-6 in the opening frame.
Prince Albert went on the power play for the first time in the game midway through the second and promptly parlayed that into a 2-0 lead when Brandon Herrod scored early in the man advantage, 16 seconds after Lethbridge blueliner Luca Sbisa was sent off for delay of game.
After outshooting the Raiders 9-6 in the second, the ’Canes pushed for their first goal in the final period. Carter Bancks gained the Prince Albert blueline and while he was able to get his shot past the Raider defenceman covering him, Zemlak was there to deny the scoring chance.
With 3:36 remaining, Austin Fyten battled in the crease for a loose puck that had the crowd buzzing, but Zemlak was able to cover up and keep it 2-0.
The ’Canes yanked netminder Brandon Anderson with 1:54 to go for the extra attacker, but instead it was Craig McCallum that sent 3,416 heading for the exits with his empty-net marker with 1:18 to go.
“I think we started off slow and never got going,” said Hurricanes defenceman Mike Reddington. “We had a bad bounce on the first goal when it hit their D-man's skate. But any time you don’t score you're not going to win the game.”
The 8-14-3-0 Hurricanes have a nine-day break from action before heading to Saskatoon to battle with the Blades Nov. 27.
“We've got to find more ways to create offence,” said Kabayama. “You take the positives and the negatives and there were some (positives). There were some chances and good opportunities to score and we didn’t. Are those positives or negatives? It’s great that we got the chances, but you have to finish when you have those opportunities.”
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