When things are going your way, they have a tendency to really go your way. That was the case for the Rebels as two power-play goals and some late-game “puck luck” led to the team’s second victory of the season.
“We’ve been working on our power play. The power play always has to establish shots, and our first power play after we scored the first goal I wasn’t crazy about. We got away from what we were supposed to be doing and got playing one-on-one hockey on our power play instead of moving pucks and getting shots through. In the second our power play was better again,” said GM/head coach Brent Sutter following the game.
“It’s just stuff we have to continue to work on.”
Under immense Blades pressure in the final frame of the night’s game, the Rebels’ two goals held up, despite having two goals scored against them in the last five minutes.
Both were called back for infractions — one for having a player in the crease and the other for a high stick.
“It was an awesome character win for us,” said defenceman Ethan Sakowich, who was named the first star on the night.
“The game got tight, it got close, and just the way we were able to come together to keep that win, it was awesome.”
It was Sakowich’s goal on the power play about midway through the period that stood up as the game-winner.
“I closed my eyes, if I’m being honest,” Sakowich said “No, it was awesome seeing the guys get that happy for me. I don’t do it too much, so it was pretty cool.”
The scoring also started off with a Rebels goal on the man advantage.
Arshdeep Bains extended his point streak to four games with his first goal of the young season. He collected a puck in front of Nolan Maier and made no mistake in giving the home side an early lead.
The Blades came out firing early in the second period and squared up the contest just before four minutes had ticked off the clock. Riley McKay followed up a play heading into the Rebel end. Ethan Anders slid toward Aidan de la Gorgendiere who had the puck and passed it to McKay. He had a wide-open cage and scored to tie things up.
“It was certainly a fast-paced game. There were scoring chances at both ends. I thought they had moments when they had momentum, and we had moments when we had momentum,” said Sutter.
The Blades certainly had that momentum following their goal, and Sutter called a timeout.
Whatever he said worked as the Rebels emerged from the huddle and the game slowed down for a few moments before the Blades took the penalty that led to the game winner.
In the third, the Rebels struggled to generate offense, hitting the Blades net just three times. Their goaltender stood on his head, turning away 15 shots. The team didn’t let the fact that the Blades scored two goals that were called back affect them.
“It wasn’t as tense as you’d think. We kept it good on the bench, nice and light. It was just awesome the way the guys reacted to that. We stuck to our game and got the win,” said Sakowich of the late-game push by the Blades.
In the end, it was Anders with a 35 save performance and another win for the young Rebels squad.
“He was unbelievable again. He’s always one of our best players, every game, night in and night out. He gives us a chance to win every night,” said Sakowich of Anders’ game.
Rebel Yell… The three stars were 1) Ethan Sakowich 2) Kyle Crnkovic 3) Mason Ward. Nolan Kneen led the shot count with 6, Arshdeep Bains added 5 for the Rebels. The Rebels power play was 2-for-4 on the night, and they killed off all three Blades opportunities. Jayden Grubbe was the best faceoff taker for the Rebels going 10-for-14. Next action for the Rebels comes on Friday night, when the team is in Swift Current to take on the Broncos. They follow that up with a match up with the Tigers in Medicine Hat on Saturday. Saskatoon heads to Lethbridge for a game on Wednesday night.
Prior to the game, the Rebels announced a trade with the Prince Albert Raiders. The team added 17-year-old Cohner Saleski in exchange for a sixth-round 2020 draft pick and a fourth-round pick in 2021. Saleski is a 2017 first-round pick.
