Tuesday afternoon’s contest in the Subway WHL Hub had the second place Saskatoon Blades (9-2-2-0) host the third-place Winnipeg ICE (9-4-0-0).
Winnipeg won the first outing on March 17 when Peyton Krebs scored the overtime winner in a 2-1 ICE win. The Blades rebounded in their second meeting on March 31 when Nolan Maier made 29 saves in a 3-2 win.
Maier was back between the pipes for the Blades. Carl Stankowski got the call for the first time since March 26th for the ICE.
The Blades welcomed back captain Chase Wouters to the line-up. He finished serving his three-game suspension.
Both teams came into the contest with streaks. The Blades looked to end a two-game losing streak while the ICE looked to continue a modest two-game winning streak. Both streaks continued for their respective teams.
It took overtime to decide the matinee contest. A powerplay goal in overtime ended the game as the ICE defeated the Blades 3-2 at the Brant Centre Hub.
Here are how things went
Peyton Krebs wired a wrister past a very screened Maier at 12:13 of the first period. His powerplay goal was his seventh of the season gave the ICE a 1-0 lead.
The teams both played a strong first period. Each team had a number of chances with the only goal being off the stick of Krebs. The Blades took the shot clock advantage at 13-9 after 20 minutes.
Tristen Robins finally broke the ice as he finished off a 2-on-1 pass from Kyle Crnkovic. His seventh of the year at 8:00 tied the game at 1-1.
The ICE grabbed the lead back when Chase Bertholet converted a one-timer on a pass from Skyler Bruce from behind the goal line. His second career marker gave the ICE a 2-1 lead at 16:10.
Another good period of hockey played by the two clubs. The ICE took a 12-8 shot advantage in the middle twenty minutes and had narrowed the gap to a 21-21 tie at the second intermission.
Evan Patrician scored his fourth of the season to get the Blades back even. Charlie Wright’s point shot hit bodies in front of the ICE net. Patrician swatted the backhand out of the air and past Stankowski for a 2-2 game.
The Blades were awarded a penalty shot at 4:19 of the third period. It appeared that an ICE player covered the puck in the crease (no explanation was given by the PA announcer).
Stankowski stood tall as he stopped a Crnkovic backhand attempt to keep the game even.
Both teams had their chances but for a second time in the season series, the teams headed to overtime.
Saskatoon outshot Winnipeg 8-7 in yet another evenly played period and 29-28 overall.
Off to overtime
The Blades faced a penalty kill situation when Wouters took a penalty.
Owen Pederson scored the overtime winner at 1:40. A Krebs shot got through Maier and Pederson chipped the puck over the goal-line behind the Saskatoon keeper. The 4-on-3 powerplay goal was Pederson’s seventh of the season giving the ICE a 3-2 overtime win.
Just notes
Winnipeg ended up 2-for-3 on the powerplay while the Blades went 0-for-3. Krebs picked up first star honors with a two-point performance (1G, 1A). Stankowski (27 saves) and Maier (29 saves) got second and third stars respectively.
