The widely-held belief that the first game back home after a long road trip isn’t a good one didn’t hold true Sunday for the Saskatoon Blades.
After going 2-2-1 on their season-longest road trip, the Bridge City Bunch played an effective road game on home ice in doubling the Moose Jaw Warriors 4-2 before 3,324 fans at SaskTel Centre. The Blue and Gold never trailed as they extended their home winning streak to four games and snapped Moose Jaw’s overall winning run at three games. The victory also insured the Blades will win the season series with the Warriors as Saskatoon has now won five straight contests after losing 7-1 in the season opener. Tristen Robins…on the power play, Vaughn Watterodt, Trevor Wong (pictured) and Kyle Crnkovic…into an empty net…tallied for the Bridge City Bunch, now 29-18-3 for the season. That leaves the Blue and Gold four points back of 30-18-5 Moose Jaw, with the Blades holding three games in hand. The Warriors sit in fourth place in the Eastern Conference, the last of the first round playoff spots that has home-ice advantage. Wong’s goal upped his consecutive game points streak to 10 games, during which he has six goals amongst 15 points. Nolan Maier, in his 200th career appearance, won his 24th game of the season and 115th career decision, stopping 25 of 27 shots. Maier is now tied for sixth place on the all-time W-H-L list for career wins by a goaltender, six back of the record. Saskatoon is idle until home games Friday against Winnipeg and Saturday versus Red Deer. Following is the official game summary courtesy the W-H-L, plus Les Lazaruk’s Post-Game Show interviews with head coach Brennan Sonne, Maier and Wong…..
Moose Jaw Warriors 2 at Saskatoon Blades 4 – Status: Final
Sunday, February 27, 2022 – SaskTel Centre – Saskatoon, SK
Moose Jaw 0 1 1 – 2
Saskatoon 1 2 1 – 4
1st Period-1, Saskatoon, Robins 25 (Crnkovic, De La Gorgendiere), 7:03 (PP). Penalties-Yager Mj (roughing), 6:31; Firkus Mj (hooking), 17:34.
2nd Period-2, Moose Jaw, Firkus 30 (Pilling, Kaddoura), 5:19. 3, Saskatoon, Watterodt 4 (Wiens), 11:46. 4, Saskatoon, Wong 13 (Lisowsky), 15:50. Penalties-Baco Mj (interference), 0:35; Paulhus Sas (cross checking), 6:38; Paulhus Sas (checking from behind), 12:58.
3rd Period-5, Moose Jaw, Korczak 19 (Mateychuk, Jordan), 16:58. 6, Saskatoon, Crnkovic 35 (Wiens), 19:42 (EN). Penalties-Baco Mj (10-minute misconduct), 20:00.
Shots on Goal-Moose Jaw 8-7-12-27. Saskatoon 14-7-10-31.
Power Play Opportunities-Moose Jaw 0 / 2; Saskatoon 1 / 3.
Goalies-Moose Jaw, Tetachuk 23-11-3-2 (30 shots-27 saves). Saskatoon, Maier 24-15-2-1 (27 shots-25 saves).
A-3,324
Referees-Mike Langin (67), Troy Murray (34).
Linesmen-Devan Thiessen (94), Brayden Glynn (96).
