The potential for a very good story didn’t have the happy ending the Saskatoon Blades wanted Sunday afternoon in Edmonton.
A four-goal first period proved to be enough…just enough…as the Oil Kings edged the Bridge City Bunch 4-3. Twice in the opening frame, Edmonton was able to bunch two goals together in a short time span…started by a power play goal each time. The margin between goals was 1:59 between the first and second as well as 1:35 between goals three and four. The Blue and Gold roared back in the second stanza with a power play goals from Tristen Robins while Chase Wouters and Randen Schmidt also found the back of the net on Edmonton 20-year-old goalie Beck Warm…making his first start with the O-Ks since being acquired from Tri-Cities a few days earlier.
But, that was as close as the Blades would get as their record dropped to 18-17-3.
“Yeah, there’s positives you can take out of that,” admitted Saskatoon assistant coach Ryan Keller. “We showed some resiliency and were able to fight back and make a game of it. There’s a lot of areas to clean up (though) with the start and the way we played in the first period. It could’ve gone south in a hurry, but our guys hung in there and made a game out of it.”
Edmonton out-shot the Blades 20-8 in the first period and 44-32 overall. The Oil Kings’ victory was their sixth straight at Rogers Place and upped their overall record to 27-7-7…leaders of the Central Division and Eastern Conference. The Bridge City Bunch, meanwhile, start a run of four consecutive home games and six of the next seven at SaskTel Centre on Wednesday when the Blue and Gold welcome Red Deer. Following is the official game summary from the W-H-L…
Saskatoon Blades 3 at Edmonton Oil Kings 4 – Status: Final
Sunday, January 5, 2020 – Rogers Place – Edmonton, AB
Saskatoon 0 3 0 – 3
Edmonton 4 0 0 – 4
1st Period-1, Edmonton, Dylan Guenther 14 (Ethan McIndoe, Riley Sawchuk), 1:39 (PP). 2, Edmonton, Liam Keeler 11 (David Kope), 3:38. 3, Edmonton, Vladimir Alistrov 11 (Carter Souch, Josh Williams), 12:09 (PP). 4, Edmonton, Jake Neighbours 14 (Dylan Guenther, Riley Sawchuk), 13:34. Penalties-Dach Sas (high sticking), 1:25; McKay Sas (kneeing), 11:30.
2nd Period-5, Saskatoon, Robins 12 (Florchuk, Crnkovic), 2:03 (PP). 6, Saskatoon, Wouters 16 (McKay, Morozoff), 7:26. 7, Saskatoon, Schmidt 1 (Dach, Kaddoura), 12:50. Penalties-Ethan McIndoe Edm (tripping), 0:54; Josh Williams Edm (high sticking), 13:54; Ethan Cap Edm (delay of game), 19:38.
3rd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Matthew Robertson Edm (interference), 7:17; Huber Sas (face off violation), 7:18; Kneen Sas (slashing), 10:51; Crnkovic Sas (delay of game), 11:34.
Shots on Goal-Saskatoon 8-14-10-32. Edmonton 20-15-9-44.
Power Play Opportunities-Saskatoon 1 / 4; Edmonton 2 / 5.
Goalies-Saskatoon, Maier 15-14-1-2 (44 shots-40 saves). Edmonton, Warm 10-14-3-1 (32 shots-29 saves).
A-6,375
Referees-Adam Griffiths (36), Steve Papp (17).
Linesmen-Deion Foster (128), Scott Fulmer (32).
