Call it “The Lost Weekend in Winnipeg” for the Saskatoon Blades.
After, admittedly, being not ready to play in Saturday’s 4-1 setback, the Bridge City Bunch started slightly better Sunday before their fortunes went sideways in a 7-2 thrashing at the hands of the Winnipeg ICE.
The home squad matched Saturday’s pair of first period power play goals with two more man advantage scores in the first period Sunday…plus added a pair of even strength tallies on the way to building a 4-1 lead after 20 minutes.
“It certainly wasn’t what we hoped for (Sunday) night,” said Blue and Gold associate coach Ryan Marsh. “You’ve got to give credit to them…they played two pretty good hockey games over the course of the weekend. But, I thought (Sunday) night there was some tough bounces early which got us behind the eight-ball again. We were chasing the game a little bit and when you are down two, 3-0, that makes it that much harder.
“I thought our start was a little bit better, but we’re still chasing the game a little bit and we’ve got lots of work to do.”
Chase Wouters scored on the power play, the fourth straight game in which the Blades have notched a man-advantage tally, and the captain assisted on Riley McKay’s team-leading sixth goal of the season. Saskatoon is now on a three-game losing streak, were out-shot 45-30 and are 7-6-1 for the season. They’ll play a third consecutive game against Winnipeg…now 6-4-1 on the season…on Friday at SaskTel Centre. Following is the official game summary from the W-H-L…
Saskatoon Blades 2 at Winnipeg ICE 7 – Status: Final
Sunday, October 20, 2019 – Wayne Fleming Arena – Winnipeg, MB
Saskatoon 1 0 1 – 2
Winnipeg 4 1 2 – 7
1st Period-1, Winnipeg, Ginnell 3 (Savoie, Pederson), 4:36. 2, Winnipeg, Ginnell 4 (Teply, McClennon), 12:35 (PP). 3, Winnipeg, Smallwood 3 (Harsch), 14:16. 4, Winnipeg, Leppard 2 (Harsch, Hartje), 16:15 (PP). 5, Saskatoon, Wouters 5 (Crnkovic, Kneen), 17:55 (PP). Penalties-Leppard Wpg (roughing), 1:13; Walford Sas (checking from behind), 11:30; Kneen Sas (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 14:16; Plaschewsky Sas (bench – coach), 14:16; Walford Sas (slashing), 14:37; Johnson Wpg (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 14:37; Savoie Wpg (tripping), 17:42; Dach Sas (roughing), 20:00; Hartje Wpg (roughing), 20:00.
2nd Period-6, Winnipeg, Pederson 3 (Ginnell), 4:36. Penalties-Wouters Sas (cross checking), 7:58; Leppard Wpg (ineligible player ), 14:37; McKay Sas (interference), 16:19; Leppard Wpg (cross checking), 20:00.
3rd Period-7, Winnipeg, Kinder 4 3:48. 8, Winnipeg, McMaster 1 (Hartje, Leppard), 13:18. 9, Saskatoon, McKay 6 (Wouters), 19:32. Penalties-Robins Sas (cross checking), 15:06; Hartje Wpg (holding), 15:06.
Shots on Goal-Saskatoon 5-12-13-30. Winnipeg 22-12-11-45.
Power Play Opportunities-Saskatoon 1 / 3; Winnipeg 2 / 5.
Goalies-Saskatoon, MacInnes 2-1-0-0 (45 shots-38 saves). Winnipeg, Makaj 3-1-0-0 (30 shots-28 saves).
A-1,395
Referees-Ben Croker (81), Bryce Sebastian (64).
Linesmen-Ryan Cooke (150), Darrell Surminski (37).
