The Prince Albert Raiders collected themselves from a 7-4 loss in Brandon on Friday night and beat the Regina Pats 3-1 in a huge divisional game on Saturday night.

Every game is important these days for the Raiders, especially those games against teams in the same situation, fighting for a playoff spot. The Raiders came back from 4 goals down in Brandon a night earlier, only to lose 7-4. They came into Regina with some hunger and it showed.

The first period in this one was scoreless as both teams exchanged opportunities but both Garrett Zemlak and Linden Rowat stayed solid as the Raiders outshot the Pats 10-9 through twenty minutes.

The Raiders were 19-8-2-1 when scoring first heading into this one and that is exactly what they did tonight. Jordan Rowley has been a powerplay specialist since coming over in the Zak Stebner deal and that continued tonight with his 9th goal of the season and 17th powerplay point with the Raiders. Brandon Herrod and Justin Bernhardt picked up helpers on the first marker of the game at the 9:18 mark of the second period. The Raiders would make it 2-0 just under six minutes later as Dustin Cameron scored his team leading 30th goal of the season with an assist from Brandon Herrod.

Going into the third it was the Raiders with the two goal cushion but the final twenty minutes has been rough for the Raiders this season and they knew they had to play to the finish in order to pick up the two points!

Regina scored a PP goal just over two minutes into the final frame which cut the lead in half and gave the Pats some momentum. Ryan McDonald would eliminate that momentum though as he joined Cameron with 30 goals on the season. Bryce Lamb and Igor Revenko provided the helpers on the scoring play. The Raiders stuck to defence through to the end of the game as Garrett Zemlak led the Raiders to their 25th win of the season which put them back into an 8th place tie with Edmonton.

The Raiders finished 1 for 6 on the PP, were 2 for 3 on the PK and were outshot by a slight margin of 31-28. The victory tonight ended a 3 game losing streak away from the Art Hauser Centre for the Raiders and gave them some momentum heading into a tough week at home against Medicine Hat on Wednesday, Swift Current on Friday night and then against Brandon on Sunday.

Tickets can be purchased by calling 764-GAME or online at www.raiderhockey.com! Come out and cheer on the Raiders into the playoffs!