Turnabout was fair play Saturday night as the Saskatoon Blades were the ones to come back from a two-goal deficit and record an overtime victory in the W-H-L’s Eastern Conference final.
Fraser Minten (pictured) converted Lukas Hansen’s back-hand pass on a 2-on-1 rush into the Moose Jaw end for the winning goal at 13:06 of O-T, giving the Bridge City Bunch a 3-2 triumph over the Warriors and evening the best-of-seven series at 1-1. On Friday, Moose Jaw rallied from being down 2-0 to the Blue and Gold, eventually recording a 4-3 triumph in extra time. On Saturday, the Warriors jumped out to the 2-0 lead in the first period and held that advantage past the mid-point of the second frame before the Blades mounted their comeback. Tanner Molendyk, on a 4-on-3 power play, and Brandon Lisowsky notched goals before the second period ended to tie the score. The teams played 35-and-a-half minutes of goal-less hockey before Minten scored his sixth of the playoffs. Egor Sidorov added two assists for Saskatoon, as they out-shot Moose Jaw 37-27 in front of a raucous crowd of 9,328 fans at SaskTel Centre. The series moves to Moose Jaw for Games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday with a Game 5 now assured for Friday at SaskTel Centre. Following are the audio highlights from CJWW’s broadcast, Post-Game Show interviews with head coach Brennan Sonne, right winger Vaughn Watterodt and Minten plus the official game summary courtesy the W-H-L…..
Moose Jaw Warriors 2 at Saskatoon Blades 3 (OT) – Status: Final OT
Saturday, April 27, 2024 – SaskTel Centre – Saskatoon, SK
Moose Jaw 2 0 0 0 – 2
Saskatoon 0 2 0 1 – 3
1st Period-1, Moose Jaw, Calvert 5 (Savoie, McKenzie), 12:33. 2, Moose Jaw, Parker 2 (Yager, Firkus), 17:20. Penalties-Savoie Mj (slashing), 4:36; Sidorov Sas (slashing), 4:36; Parker Mj (interference), 7:48.
2nd Period-3, Saskatoon, Molendyk 2 (Wong, Sidorov), 11:00 (PP). 4, Saskatoon, Lisowsky 5 (Sidorov), 17:29. Penalties-Siepmann Sas (closing hand on puck), 5:45; Parker Mj (slashing), 9:40; Watterodt Sas (slashing), 9:40; Wilson Mj (tripping), 10:29; Firkus Mj (hooking), 12:24; Wong Sas (roughing), 14:24.
3rd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Yager Mj (cross checking), 11:20.
OT Period-5, Saskatoon, Minten 6 (Hansen), 13:06. Penalties-No Penalties
Shots on Goal-Moose Jaw 6-8-8-5-27. Saskatoon 8-14-8-7-37.
Power Play Opportunities-Moose Jaw 0 / 2; Saskatoon 1 / 4.
Goalies-Moose Jaw, Unger (37 shots-34 saves). Saskatoon, Gardner (27 shots-25 saves).
A-9,328
Referees-Bryan Bourdon (45), Bryce Sebastian (64).
Linesmen-Cody Huseby (88), Michael Roberts (87).
