The Saskatoon Blades need to put the “power” back into their power play…quick!
While going 0-for-7 on the power play didn’t hurt them in Sunday’s 4-0 home victory over Moose Jaw, failing to score on any of their six man advantages Wednesday allowed the Spokane Chiefs to grab the momentum needed for a 5-1 decision over the Bridge City Bunch.
“For sure, we needed (a goal) on one of those power plays (four consecutive chances in the second period),” admitted Blue and Gold associate coach Ryan Marsh. “We just weren’t able to execute. Spokane did a real good job on their penalty kill (Wednesday) night. They don’t give you a lot of time or space. Looking back on it, that was a pretty big part of the game where we really needed to find a way to get one. It was disappointing. The first 35 minutes of the game, I think we’d only give up eight shots (on goal) against and did a pretty good job. We generated those four power play opportunities by doing some good things…hard work and keeping our game simple. It was disappointing to have things change in the last bit of the second (period).”
Spokane opened the scoring just 3:20 into the game when defenceman Bobby Russell went coast-to-coast to score on a power play…ending the Blades streak of consecutive penalties killed off at 18. But, when Saskatoon failed to score on four consecutive man advantages of their own through the first 12-and-a-half minutes of the second period, the Chiefs smelled blood…scoring three times in a 2:39 span over the final five minutes of the middle frame to salt the result away.
Tristen Robins scored the only goal for the Bridge City Bunch…now 12-9-2 for the season. The goal came with 5:46 remaining in the third period and broke up the shutout attempt of Spokane’s Czech goaltender Lukas Parik.
The Blue and Gold are now goal-less in their last 17 power play chances…and it won’t get any easier Friday when they visit the U.S. Division-leading Everett Silvertips. The Tips find themselves third in the latest weekly C-H-L Top 10 rankings. The Blades have now lost their last five visits to Spokane. Following is the official game summary from the W-H-L…
Saskatoon Blades 1 at Spokane Chiefs 5 – Status: Final
Wednesday, November 20, 2019 – Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena – Spokane, WA
Saskatoon 0 0 1 – 1
Spokane 1 3 1 – 5
1st Period-1, Spokane, Russell 4 (Pak), 3:20 (PP). Penalties-Huber Sas (tripping), 2:11; De La Gorgendiere Sas (holding opp. stick), 6:58; Finley Spo (tripping), 7:24; Huber Sas (major-fighting), 10:01; Chudley Spo (major-fighting), 10:01; Schmidt Sas (too many men), 18:40.
2nd Period-2, Spokane, Russell 5 (Finley), 15:37. 3, Spokane, Hughes 9 (Toporowski, Krl), 17:13. 4, Spokane, Larson 4 (Beckman, Leduc), 18:16. Penalties-Thompson Spo (too many men), 0:54; King Spo (high sticking), 4:10; Larson Spo (delay of game), 6:11; Beckman Spo (high sticking), 10:18.
3rd Period-5, Spokane, Beckman 10 (Larson, Finley), 11:21 (EN). 6, Saskatoon, Robins 8 (Crnkovic, De La Gorgendiere), 14:14. Penalties-Chudley Spo (tripping), 18:15.
Shots on Goal-Saskatoon 8-10-11-29. Spokane 5-11-7-23.
Power Play Opportunities-Saskatoon 0 / 6; Spokane 1 / 3.
Goalies-Saskatoon, Maier 9-8-1-1 (16 shots-12 saves); MacInnes 3-1-0-0 (6 shots-6 saves). Spokane, Pak 6-1-1-0 (29 shots-28 saves).
A-3,218
Referees-Corey Koop (53), Trevor Nolan.
Linesmen-Jackson Kozari (97), Daniel Spore (142).
