The Red Deer Rebels came into SaskTel Centre to finish off four games in five nights on the road with the idea of being the hammer and using the Saskatoon Blades as the nail. Physically, they may have succeeded, but when it came to opportunistic scoring and goaltending, the Bridge City Bunch had the answers as the Blue and Gold knocked off the 36-16-3 Rebels 5-2 Saturday, ending Red Deer’s winning streak at seven games.
Two overage veterans, playing in milestone career W-H-L games, paced the Blades to their 30th victory of the season. Centre Tristen Robins, appearing in his 200th career contest, had two goals and an assist while defenceman Rhett Rhinehart (pictured) had a goal and an assist in his 250th career W-H-L game. Noah Boyko opened the scoring with his second goal in as many games since returning from injury and Vaughn Watterodt also tallied for Saskatoon, who built up a 5-0 lead after two periods. Nolan Maier lost his shutout bid to a pair of third period Rebels’ power play markers. The Bridge City Bunch improved to 30-18-4, despite losing two key veterans to injury in the first period in defenceman and captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere and centre Trevor Wong. The Blue and Gold did extend a couple of streaks to six games, a recent run of games adding points to the standings (4-0-2) and a string of games with points in the standings on home ice (5-0-1). Both teams scored twice on the power play in front of 3,999 fans at SaskTel Centre. The Blades are off until Wednesday when they entertain the Lethbridge Hurricanes at 7 o’clock. Following is the official game summary courtesy the W-H-L and Les Lazaruk’s post-game interviews with head coach Brennan Sonne, plus Boyko and defenceman Tanner Molendyk…..
Red Deer Rebels 2 at Saskatoon Blades 5 – Status: Final
Saturday, March 5, 2022 – SaskTel Centre – Saskatoon, SK
Red Deer 0 0 2 – 2
Saskatoon 3 2 0 – 5
1st Period-1, Saskatoon, Boyko 15 (Rhinehart, Wiens), 13:41. 2, Saskatoon, Rhinehart 7 (Crnkovic, Robins), 16:18 (PP). 3, Saskatoon, Robins 26 (Molendyk), 19:05. Penalties-Mayo Rd (charging), 2:29; van de Leest Rd (tripping), 16:10.
2nd Period-4, Saskatoon, Robins 27 (Crnkovic, Molendyk), 5:11 (PP). 5, Saskatoon, Watterodt 5 (Wiens), 10:36. Penalties-Medernach Rd (holding), 3:49; King Rd (holding), 7:39; Pillar Sas (slashing), 18:44.
3rd Period-6, Red Deer, Bains 30 (King, Sedoff), 0:21 (PP). 7, Red Deer, Sedoff 4 (Bains), 13:55 (PP). Penalties-Lind Rd (embellishment), 1:58; Boyko Sas (roughing), 1:58; Sedoff Rd (tripping), 6:22; Schneider Sas (hooking), 13:40.
Shots on Goal-Red Deer 9-5-16-30. Saskatoon 12-6-10-28.
Power Play Opportunities-Red Deer 2 / 2; Saskatoon 2 / 5.
Goalies-Red Deer, Coward 15-9-0-1 (13 shots-9 saves); Ungar 19-7-1-0 (15 shots-14 saves). Saskatoon, Maier 25-15-3-1 (30 shots-28 saves).
A-3,999
Referees-Brayden Arcand, Adam Bloski (16).
Linesmen-Brayden Glynn (96), Ty Skene.
