The only lead the Saskatoon Blades held Friday night in Lethbridge was the final score following a shootout!
Kyle Crnkovic scored the only goal of the skills competition, on the first attempt of the shootout, and Nolan Maier (pictured) shut the door the rest of the way as the Bridge City Bunch rallied to beat the Central Division-leading Hurricanes 4-3. After losing the first four games of their season-longest seven-game road trip, the Blue and Gold have won two straight. They fell behind 2-0 after the first period, came back to tie it on second period tallies from Eric Florchuk…on the power play…and rookie Jayden Wiens. Zach Huber forced overtime with 2:32 left in the third period…off-setting Oliver Okuliar’s second marker of the game and 20th of the season from earlier in the frame.
Cue the shootout heroics by Crnkovic and Maier.
“Obviously we didn’t get off to the start we hoped for and kind of clawed our way back in the game,” explained Blades assistant coach Ryan Keller. “I thought from, maybe, the final five minutes of the first period and throughout the second period, we had a lot of energy and found some life. Guys were working and playing a simple game…got ourselves into it…fall behind in the third period again…we can give the guys credit for staying with it and battling throughout the game and finding a way late. We got outstanding goaltending, too, that kept us around the game when, maybe, we weren’t executing the way we would like to…that was huge.”
Besides stopping all three Canes’ shootout attempts, Maier was brilliant during regulation time and overtime…stopping 40 of 43 shots. The victory gives Saskatoon the season series victory over Lethbridge, now 17-7-4 for the season and tied for the Eastern Conference lead with Prince Albert, having won all three match-ups thus far with one game remaining. The 14-12-2 Bridge City Bunch finish up their seven-game epic of a swing Saturday night in Medicine Hat. Game time is 8:30 with the broadcast starting at 7:30 on 98-COOL with the Sardinia Family Restaurant pre-game show. Following is the official game summary from the W-H-L…
Saskatoon Blades 4 (SO) at Lethbridge Hurricanes 3 – Status: Final SO
Friday, November 29, 2019 – Enmax Centre – Lethbridge, AB
Saskatoon 0 2 1 0 – 4
Lethbridge 2 0 1 0 – 3
1st Period-1, Lethbridge, Thacker 2 (Thiessen, Prefontaine), 15:49. 2, Lethbridge, Okuliar 19 (Wilson, Kambeitz), 17:33 (SH). Penalties-Kneen Sas (tripping), 9:37; Jerome Let (high sticking, high sticking), 16:15.
2nd Period-3, Saskatoon, Florchuk 10 (Crnkovic, De La Gorgendiere), 6:34 (PP). 4, Saskatoon, Wiens 4 (Schmidt, Plaschewsky), 18:59. Penalties-Toman Sas (hooking), 2:38; Jones Let (slashing), 5:02.
3rd Period-5, Lethbridge, Okuliar 20 (Cozens, Jerome), 1:17. 6, Saskatoon, Huber 7 (De La Gorgendiere, Kucerik), 17:28. Penalties-No Penalties
OT Period- No Scoring.Penalties-No Penalties
Shootout – Saskatoon 1 (Crnkovic G, Robins NG, McKay NG), Lethbridge 0 (Cozens NG, Okuliar NG, Jerome NG).
Shots on Goal-Saskatoon 3-14-12-0-1-30. Lethbridge 19-9-13-2-0-43.
Power Play Opportunities-Saskatoon 1 / 3; Lethbridge 0 / 2.
Goalies-Saskatoon, Maier 11-10-1-1 (43 shots-40 saves). Lethbridge, Tetachuk 10-4-0-4 (29 shots-26 saves).
A-3,840
Referees-Mike Langin (67), Jordan Lightbown (74).
Linesmen-Matt Schoenroth (21), Mason Stewart (93).
