As they have all season, even in losses, Arshdeep Bains and Ben King took on starring roles for the Red Deer Rebels against the Saskatoon Blades Tuesday, combining for seven points and collaborating on the first three goals of the game as the home-standing Rebels upended the Bridge City Bunch 5-2.
Bains, who signed a free agent Entry Level contract with the N-H-L’s Vancouver Canucks last week, had two goals and an assist while King, the latest W-H-L Player-of-the-Week had a goal and three helpers as Red Deer improved their record to 39-16-3 for the season and completed a 4-2-0 season series victory over the Blue and Gold. Bains finished the six games against the Blades with 18 points, nine goals and nine assists, while King ended up with 13 points in the season series against Saskatoon. Bains scored what turned out to be the game-winning goal just before the four-and-a-half minute mark of the second period. With their respective outputs, Bains and King are tied for the W-H-L points scoring lead…each with 91. As for the Bridge City Bunch, despite falling behind 3-0, they did battle back to within a goal in the third period as Egor Sidorov and Jayden Wiens found the back of the net. Wiens’ goal was his 19th of the season and 13th on the power play. The Blue and Gold fell to 32-20-4 for the season while being out-shot 24-23, their Magic Number to clinch a playoff spot remaining at nine points. It’ll be tough to reduce it further on Wednesday as the Blades visit the Central Division and Eastern Conference-leading Edmonton Oil Kings. They are on a 14-game winning streak and are 27-2-0 at Rogers Place this season. CJWW has the broadcast Wednesday, beginning with the Pre-Game Show at 6:30 and the play-by-play at 7 p.m. Following is the official game summary courtesy the W-H-L plus Les Lazaruk’s post-game interview with head coach Brennan Sonne…..
Saskatoon Blades 2 at Red Deer Rebels 5 – Status: Final
Tuesday, March 15, 2022 – Peavey Mart Centrium – Red Deer, AB
Saskatoon 0 1 1 – 2
Red Deer 1 2 2 – 5
1st Period-1, Red Deer, Bains 32 (King, Lind), 18:50. Penalties-Gustafson Rd (cross checking), 16:08.
2nd Period-2, Red Deer, King 46 (Bains), 0:35. 3, Red Deer, Bains 33 (King), 4:25. 4, Saskatoon, Sidorov 17 (Lisowsky, De La Gorgendiere), 15:16. Penalties-Watterodt Sas (major-fighting), 11:36; Grubbe Rd (major-fighting), 11:36.
3rd Period-5, Saskatoon, Wiens 19 (Crnkovic, De La Gorgendiere), 3:12 (PP). 6, Red Deer, Brigley 6 (Mayo, Uchacz), 9:57. 7, Red Deer, Lind 17 (King, van de Leest), 16:53 (EN). Penalties-Isley Rd (cross checking), 2:15; Uchacz Rd (holding), 14:22.
Shots on Goal-Saskatoon 8-5-10-23. Red Deer 7-6-11-24.
Power Play Opportunities-Saskatoon 1 / 3; Red Deer 0 / 0.
Goalies-Saskatoon, Maier 26-17-3-1 (23 shots-19 saves). Red Deer, Coward 17-9-0-1 (23 shots-21 saves).
A-2,685
Referees-Kyle Kowalski (15), Fraser Lawrence (10).
Linesmen-Chad Huseby (59), Cody Huseby (88).
