A very similar scenario to Friday played out Saturday in Regina as the Saskatoon Blades out-lasted the Pats in W-H-L action. But, how the games were played in the first two periods each night were very different!
On Friday, Kyle Crnkovic scored the winning goal at 1:14 of overtime to give the Bridge City Bunch a 2-1 victory over the visiting Queen City Kids. On Saturday, the 17-year-old Chestermere, Ab., product played O-T hero again, scoring his second goal of the game and 20th of the season with 43.9 seconds remaining in the fourth period as the Blue and Gold prevailed 5-4.
Once again, the Blades led by one goal after two periods, only to have Regina score late in the third period to tie and force extra time. On Friday, it was only 1-0 after 40 minutes…on Saturday it was 4-3 as the Pats scored the game’s first three goals before Saskatoon rallied with a Nolan Kneen tally with 4.6 seconds left in the first period…then three unanswered second period goals by Tristen Robins, Crnkovic and Scott Walford (pictured). Once again, it looked the Bridge City Bunch would prevail by at least one goal. But, Regina defenceman Zach Wytinck glanced a shot from the right wing boards off unsuspecting Blue and Gold defenceman Charlie Wright and past a startled goaltender Koen MacInnes with 1:46 left in regulation time…setting the stage for Crnkovic’s overtime heroics.
“It was a strange one,” explained Blades assistant coach Ryan Keller. “The (Kneen) goal that ended the first period was huge for us, just to give us some life going into the intermission and feel good about ourselves. But really, at the end of the day we thought our (first) period was pretty good. We didn’t spend much time in our own end. We had a few breakdowns that they made good plays on that ended up in the back of our net, but ultimately we thought we played a pretty good period. We put up (19) shots and carried the majority of the play. That was unfortunate to go down (like that), but credit to us, we kept picking away and played hard throughout the rest of the game and got ourselves back in it.”
Saskatoon out-shot the Pats 39-24 and were 2-for-7 on the power play as the Bridge City Bunch improved their record to 33-24-5. However, Winnipeg wallopped Moose Jaw 7-1 to keep the ICE two points in front of the Blue and Gold for third place in the East Division. The Blades play three games on the road this coming week…Tuesday in Moose Jaw, Friday in Winnipeg and Saturday at Brandon. Following is the official game summary from the W-H-L…
Saskatoon Blades 5 (OT) at Regina Pats 4 – Status: Final OT
Saturday, March 7, 2020 – Brandt Centre – Regina, SK
Saskatoon 1 3 0 1 – 5
Regina 3 0 1 0 – 4
1st Period-1, Regina, Wytinck 8 (Dubinsky, Smith), 13:05. 2, Regina, Brook 4 (Carrier, Denomie), 16:10. 3, Regina, Pratt 20 (Englot, Johnson), 19:00. 4, Saskatoon, Kneen 12 (Crnkovic, Wouters), 19:55. Penalties-Cikhart Reg (tripping), 4:01; Robins Sas (high sticking), 8:23; Englot Reg (holding), 12:40; Wouters Sas (high sticking), 13:01; Mitchell Reg (delay of game), 16:41; Huber Sas (major-fighting), 18:07; Nijhoff Reg (major-fighting), 18:07; McKay Sas (roughing), 19:47; Evans Reg (roughing), 19:47.
2nd Period-5, Saskatoon, Robins 32 (Walford, Crnkovic), 6:40 (PP). 6, Saskatoon, Crnkovic 19 (Robins, Walford), 13:24. 7, Saskatoon, Walford 12 (Kneen, Robins), 18:29 (PP). Penalties-Wright Sas (holding), 2:44; Nijhoff Reg (tripping), 5:42; Dach Sas (major-fighting), 13:06; Krane Reg (major-fighting), 13:06; served by Denomie Reg (too many men), 16:55; Smith Reg (tripping), 18:11.
3rd Period-8, Regina, Wytinck 9 (Pratt, Denomie), 18:14 (PP). Penalties-Nijhoff Reg (hooking), 0:07; Dach Sas (embellishment), 14:24; Walker Reg (hooking), 14:24; Kneen Sas (kneeing), 17:02.
OT Period-9, Saskatoon, Crnkovic 20 (De La Gorgendiere, Wouters), 4:13. Penalties-No Penalties
Shots on Goal-Saskatoon 19-12-5-3-39. Regina 12-5-6-1-24.
Power Play Opportunities-Saskatoon 2 / 7; Regina 1 / 4.
Goalies-Saskatoon, MacInnes 13-5-1-0 (24 shots-20 saves). Regina, Buskey 9-12-2-0 (39 shots-34 saves).
A-5,008
Referees-Adam Bloski (16), Mike Langin (67).
Linesmen-Avery Davison (131), Brent Vandermeulen (100).
