Moose Jaw battled hard but came up short Saturday, as the Prince Albert Raiders scored two empty-net goals late in the third period to beat the Warriors 5-2 at the Subway WHL Hub.

The teams battled up and down the ice as they fought for offensive opportunities.

Moose Jaw picked up the game’s first power play and they used that to get on to the scoreboard six minutes into the game.

2020 1st round pick Brayden Yager took a shot from the top of the Raiders right circle.  Eric Alarie was on top of the Prince Albert crease where he was able to deflect the puck past goalie Carter Serhyenko for his fifth of the season.

Just over two minutes later, the puck was bouncing inside the Moose Jaw right circle.  Raiders' leading scorer Ozzy Wiesblatt was able to settle the puck down for a quick shot that found the back of the net to tie the game at one.

With under eight minutes left in the period and with Moose Jaw on the power play, the Raiders forecheck created a turnover at the Warriors blueline.  20-year-old Justin Nachbaur took the puck to the right faceoff dot and then snapped a shot past Brett Mirwald, the shorthanded goal gave the Raiders a 2-1 lead.

In the second period, the teams continued to battle in all three zones, however, they were also able to maintain a quick pace which led to several scoring chances.

Just past the midway point of the period, 16-year-old defenceman Denton Mateychuk led a rush up the ice.  He found Atley Calvert on the right-wing, who then came down the Raiders wall with the puck.

The Moose Jaw product then found a seam to make a cross-ice pass to Cade Hayes on the left-wing where he let a quick shot go that beat Serhyenko, his second of the year tied the game at two.

1:53 into the third period, the Raiders Eric Pearce worked his way up the ice and was able to get a shot on the net.  The puck came off the pad of Brett Mirwald and right back to Pearce, who scored on a quick shot to give Prince Albert the lead.

Moose Jaw fought desperately for an equalizer, but unfortunately, on the two times that they pulled their goalie, the Raiders scored two empty-net goals to put the game out of reach.

There is no time for the Warriors to relax as their busy weekend schedule continues Sunday night against the Winnipeg ICE.  Moose Jaw lost 5-2 to Winnipeg back on March 18th.

Catch all the action on Country 100 starting with the PreGame Show at 7:40 pm