Once again, the Saskatoon Blades had to overcome their propensity to give up the opening goal in a game and start as if skating in sand in order to win. On Saturday, the Bridge City Bunch found their offensive game in the final 40 minutes in order to bounce the Warriors 8-2 in Moose Jaw.
On Legends and Warriors Hall-of-Fame Night at Mosaic Place, the Tribe opened the scoring and led 2-1 after the first period, while out-shooting the Blue and Gold 14-12. The rest of the way was all Blades as they scored seven straight goals and out-shot Moose Jaw 31-15 for an overall tally of 43-29.
“We were a little sluggish to start,” explained Saskatoon assistant coach Ryan Keller. “I don’t know if it was the pre-game festivities or what it was. Obviously, when we spent (nearly) half the period in the penalty box, you don’t do yourself a lot of favours. It wasn’t the start we wanted, just not getting in on the forecheck, not moving our feet. Once we got through to the (intermission) break, and re-iterated that to the guys and got ourselves going, then the game changed.”
The Bridge City Bunch’s fourth line keyed the rally as Caiden Daley’s first goal with the Blue and Gold tied the score and Matt Sanders (pictured) scored the go-ahead goal in the second period. From there, the usual Blades’ scoring suspects took over. Tristen Robins and Colton Dach each had two goals and two assists, Scott Walford chipped in three helpers while Nolan Kneen and Riley McKay also scored for Saskatoon, who improved to 26-20-5 for the season. In all, 13 of the 18 Bridge City Bunch skaters made their way onto the scoresheet as the Blue and Gold won their fifth straight visit to Moose Jaw while handing the Warriors, now 12-34-2, their sixth consecutive loss overall and extended their home-ice winless skid to 12 games. The same teams play Sunday, a quick turnaround, at 2 o’clock at SaskTel Centre with the broadcast on 98-COOL beginning at 1 with the Sardinia Family Restaurant pre-game show. Following is the official game summary from the W-H-L…
Saskatoon Blades 8 at Moose Jaw Warriors 2 – Status: Final
Saturday, February 8, 2020 – Mosaic Place – Moose Jaw, SK
Saskatoon 1 4 3 – 8
Moose Jaw 2 0 0 – 2
1st Period-1, Moose Jaw, Lang 10 (Korczak, Hartje), 2:54 (PP). 2, Saskatoon, Kneen 10 (Patrician, De La Gorgendiere), 15:32. 3, Moose Jaw, Doust 6 (Anderson, Hartje), 19:10 (PP). Penalties-Morozoff Sas (holding), 2:03; Popple Mj (roughing), 8:39; Kucerik Sas (slashing), 11:25; Rhinehart Sas (checking to the head), 17:30; Wouters Sas (tripping), 17:43; Hayes Mj (interference), 18:52.
2nd Period-4, Saskatoon, Daley 3 (Walford, Wiens), 7:07. 5, Saskatoon, Sanders 2 (Daley, Plaschewsky), 15:09. 6, Saskatoon, Robins 24 (Crnkovic, Walford), 17:04 (PP). 7, Saskatoon, Dach 9 (Robins, Rhinehart), 18:35. Penalties-Kucerik Sas (roughing), 3:23; Doust Mj (roughing), 3:23; Huber Sas (major-fighting), 5:56; Jones Mj (major-fighting), 5:56; Miller Mj (hooking), 7:15; Lang Mj (slashing), 11:10; Wright Mj (tripping), 16:04.
3rd Period-8, Saskatoon, Robins 25 (Dach, Walford), 1:26. 9, Saskatoon, Dach 10 (Robins), 4:05. 10, Saskatoon, McKay 17 (Dach), 16:53. Penalties-Morozoff Sas (holding), 4:26; McKay Sas (10-minute misconduct), 16:53.
Shots on Goal-Saskatoon 12-19-12-43. Moose Jaw 14-10-5-29.
Power Play Opportunities-Saskatoon 1 / 5; Moose Jaw 2 / 5.
Goalies-Saskatoon, MacInnes 10-5-1-0 (29 shots-27 saves). Moose Jaw, Bilous 16-17-4-1 (43 shots-35 saves).
A-2,845
Referees-Bob Millette (61), Bryce Sebastian (64).
Linesmen-Sean Dufour (50), Josh Long (126).
