Rebels 7 Raiders 4
PRINCE ALBERT — One night after having their 11-game Western Hockey League streak snapped at Saskatoon, the Red Deer Rebels started what they hope will be another extended run Wednesday.
The Rebels, 7-5 losers to the Saskatoon Blades Tuesday, rebounded nicely 24 hours later to record a 7-4 victory over the Prince Albert Raiders before 2,122 fans at the Art Hauser Centre.
“We played hard and we played well,” said Rebels head coach/VP of hockey operations Jesse Wallin.
“You’re always concerned about an emotional loss like last night, where everyone is disappointed. You’ve played an emotional, intense game and you’re concerned about a letdown the next night.
“I thought we did a good job of responding the right way and facing adversity, as well.”
Despite outshooting their guests in the opening period, the Rebels surrendered a pair of power-play goals to Igor Revenko and an even-strength marker by Todd Fiddler to fall behind 3-1.
“We had a real good start to the game. We came at them hard, then we took a couple of penalties,” said Wallin. “They (Raiders) executed well on the first (power play) and on their second goal we just had a bit of a breakdown.
“Then the third one was just a bad goal and all of a sudden you’re down 3-1. It would have been easy to get back on your heels and feel sorry for yourself, but I thought we showed resilience and worked to get ourselves back into it.”
Byron Froese, with his first of three goals on the evening, cut the deficit to 3-2 with a man-advantage marker 61 seconds into the middle frame, but the Raiders restored their two-goal cushion when Revenko completed his hat-trick performance with another power-play tally at 14:26.
But that was it for the Raiders, who watched Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Froese connected before the period was over, and Colin Archer, Froese — who recorded his second hat trick in the last three games — and Adam Kambeitz — into an empty net with 55 seconds left and the Rebels short-handed — score in the final frame.
John Persson, with his 24th of the season, notched Red Deer’s first-period goal.
“Ultimately we got a huge win and a good response to last night,” said Wallin.
The Rebels finished one-for-six on the power play while the Raiders were three-for six.
Netminder Dawson Guhle stopped 28 shots for his third win as a Rebel. Jamie Tucker made 35 saves for Prince Albert.
While Guhle couldn’t be faulted on three of the Raiders goals, Fiddler’s was a weak one as his shot from the corner deflected off the goaltender’s stick and into the net.
“He (Guhle) did a good job of settling in after the first period,” said Wallin. “He responded well and did a good job of not letting himself get rattled. He stood in there, made a couple of good stops in the third period and brought it home.”
The Rebels host the Moose Jaw Warriors Friday at 7:30 p.m.