The Lake Diefenbaker Slough Sharks were unable to take advantage of a Luke Mistelbacher hat trick as they lost 7-5 to the visiting Prince Albert Raiders on Saturday.
The Slough Sharks opened the scoring with a power play goal from Luke Mistelbacher 6:01 into regulation. The Raiders eventually took the lead in the first period with goals from Tomas Mrsic and Brayden Dube.
Both teams scored on their first shot of the second period on the same power play. The Slough Sharks scored 36 seconds in with a shorthanded goal from Carlin Dezainde on a one-handed tip of a Ty Coupland feed. The Raiders quickly replied with a power play goal from Mrsic. The Slough Sharks tied the game again with another Dezaide goal, this time on the power play, his 18th goal of the season. The Slough Sharks added another power play goal with 5:03 remaining in the period when Mistelbacher scored from a point shot for his 22nd goal of the season for a 4-3 lead.
The Raiders scored four goals in the third period to clinch the win. They quickly tied the game with a Niall Crocker power play goal only 25 seconds into the period. Lukas Dragicevic gave them the lead and Ty Meunier added an insurance goal. Mistelbacher gave the Broncos a glimmer of hope with his hat trick goal on the power play, but Aiden Oiring scored into an empty net to close the scoring in the final minute.
The Raiders finished the game two-for-six on the power play, while the Broncos were four-for-six.
Joey Rocha made the start and made eight saves on 10 shots in the opening period. Reid Dyck played the final 40 minutes and made 25 saves on 29 shots. Dimitri Fortin improved to 4-5-0-0 with 29 saves for the Raiders.
The Slough Sharks fell to 17-15-0-1 with their fourth loss in the past five outings to drop to eighth in the Eastern Conference, while Prince Albert improved to 17-11-3-0 to sit fifth.
The Swift Current Broncos will host the Brandon Wheat Kings on Monday.
