Now that the East Division has done their rounds, it is now time for the second meeting. The Saskatoon Blades “hosted” the Swift Current Broncos at the Subway WHL Hub.
Saskatoon, with three straight wins, looked to make it four and take full control of the East Division. Swift Current had rallied to grab their first win of the season (against Prince Albert) after starting with five straight losses. The win happened to be the Broncos’ first victory since January of 2020 (a span of 23 games).
In the first meeting between the clubs, the Blades won the game 4-2. In the March 13th game, Blade rookie Brandon Lisoway scored his first two goals in the WHL. Kyle Crnkovic and Tristen Robins also potted singles in the game. Raphael Pelletier and Josh Davies replied for the Broncos.
In a case of anything you can do, I can do better, the Broncos held in with the Blades. In many cases actually one-upped them.
Just 14 seconds into the game Chase Wouters drew first blood for the Blades. He won the opening faceoff and then deposited a rebound past Isaac Poulter.
Not to be outdone, Swift Current defenseman Owen Williams tied the game at 1-1 just 56 seconds later.
The early seesaw scoring battle tilted back in the Blades favor at the 6:11 mark of the first period. They made it 2-1 when a pass in front of the net deflected off of Caiden Daley’s skate for the goal.
The quick response Broncos scored just 1:15 later when Michael Farren snuck his fourth of the season past Nolan Meier to tie the score. It was just Swift Current’s fourth shot of the period.
The back and forth scoring ended when the Bronco’s Josh Davies stole the puck and beat Maier on a breakaway. Davies’ 4-on-4 goal gave the Broncos a 3-2 lead which they carried to the first intermission.
The Blades controlled much of the play in the first period. They outshot the Broncos 17-6 as they headed into the break.
The Blades capitalized on the first powerplay of the game less than five minutes into the second. Robins ripped a wrister past Poulter to tie the game at 3-3. The scoring seesaw was again even.
The Broncos then connected on their first man-advantage. Davies scored his second of the game at 9:02 to give Swift Current a one-goal lead at 4-3.
There would be no more scoring in the frame. The Blades had a 12-8 shot advantage in the frame and 29-14 overall heading into the third period.
The third period started with both teams tightening up their games. Neither team got many chances early.
Who just scored their first @TheWHL goal?
Josh Filmon did!
Assist Stebbings.
5-3 lead with under 7 minutes left in the third. pic.twitter.com/fZU8jHZlzQ
— Swift Current Broncos (@SCBroncos) March 25, 2021
That was until the Broncos’ Josh Filmon had one of those chances and buried his first career goal. His goal at 12:01 of the period gave the Broncos a two-goal lead at 5-3.
It has been said that two-goal leads are the worst in hockey. On this night it proved to be right.
Blake Stevenson pulled the Blades back to within one when he roofed a shot past the Bronco goaltender. The Bronco lead was back to just one at 5-4 with 3:29 left.
The Blades pulled Maier with less than two minutes left to play.
A Bronco defenseman iced the puck causing a face-off in the Bronco zone. The Blades won that face-off with an extra attacker on the ice and tied the game. Aidan De La Gorgendiere scored from the point to bring the Blades back even with just 42.8 seconds left.
The seesaw scoring battle was back even, heading to overtime. Even though the scoring was a seesaw affair, the Blades had a 40-20 shot advantage after regulation.
Robins completed the Blades’ comeback. Just 29 seconds into the overtime he grabbed the puck skated in alone and buried the winner.
Just notes: Both teams went 1-for-2 on the powerplay. Both teams play their next games on Friday with the Blades playing the Pats and Broncos playing the ICE.
