The Saskatoon Blades got better as Friday’s game wore on, blanking the Warriors 3-0 in Moose Jaw.
After missing the previous nine games because of a Lower Body injury, Nolan Maier (pictured) returned between the pipes for the Bridge City Bunch…stopping 20 shots for his first shutout of the season and the seventh of his Blue and Gold career.
“We had a little bit of a slower start than what we would’ve liked as far as our energy level and I thought we weren’t skating as hard and getting after it as much as we needed to in that first period,” explained Blades’ associate coach Ryan Marsh. “But, we did get that as we moved on. I thought we had a couple of key saves from Nolan in that first period that allowed us to kind of get our game and we got better as it wore on.”
Maier made 10 saves in a scoreless first frame before getting some offensive support. Riley McKay tallied early in the second period, then again past the mid-point of the third frame on a power play before Tristen Robins added extra insurance with less than 90 seconds to go.
For Moose Jaw, it was their ninth straight loss at home and their 10th consecutive home game without winning, dating back to early December as their record fell to 12-31-2 overall. They have been shutout twice in a row in head-to-head meetings by Saskatoon.
The Bridge City Bunch improved to 25-19-4 for the season…still two points back of third place Brandon in the East Division. It was the third shutout recorded by the Blue and Gold this season as they out-shot the Warriors 33-20…the eighth straight game the Blades have held the edge on the shot clock.
Saskatoon returns home Saturday to host the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Game time is 7 p.m. at SaskTel Centre with the Sardinia Family Restaurant pre-game show at 6 on 98-COOL. Following is the official game summary from the W-H-L…
Saskatoon Blades 3 at Moose Jaw Warriors 0 – Status: Final
Friday, January 31, 2020 – Mosaic Place – Moose Jaw, SK
Saskatoon 0 1 2 – 3
Moose Jaw 0 0 0 – 0
1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Huber Sas (slashing), 2:36; Runke Mj (holding), 11:23; McKay Sas (tripping), 17:50.
2nd Period-1, Saskatoon, McKay 15 (Wouters), 5:58. Penalties-Walford Sas (boarding), 17:50.
3rd Period-2, Saskatoon, McKay 16 (Huber, Dach), 13:31 (PP). 3, Saskatoon, Robins 23 (Fasko-Rudas, Crnkovic), 18:35. Penalties-Lang Mj (cross checking), 12:13.
Shots on Goal-Saskatoon 8-10-15-33. Moose Jaw 10-5-5-20.
Power Play Opportunities-Saskatoon 1 / 2; Moose Jaw 0 / 3.
Goalies-Saskatoon, Maier 16-14-1-2 (20 shots-20 saves). Moose Jaw, Bilous 16-15-4-1 (33 shots-30 saves).
A-2,813
Referees-Ben Croker, Kyle Kowalski (15).
Linesmen-Cam Kuffner (31), Ryan Lundquist (106).
