Keith Hershmiller
Eastern Division

Blades smother Pats in 3-1 win

Written by Kevin Shaw on

 

An important game for both the Regina Pats and Saskatoon Blades on this Friday night at the SaskTel Centre as the Pats tried to keep their playoff hopes alive and the Blades looked to punch their ticket to the dance. The Blades came out on top 3-1.

The game was close early on as it was tied at one after twenty minutes. The Blades added a goal in each of the second and third periods to take the game 3-1 before 7,523 loud and boisterous fans. With the win, the Blades clinched.

The Pats did not do themselves any favors and missed out on a huge opportunity as both the Raiders and Hurricanes lost, losing a game at hand on both clubs making it more difficult for the Pats and their playoff hopes. With 51 points they still trail the seventh-place Hurricanes (56), eighth-place Broncos (55), and ninth-place Raiders (53) in a battle for the postseason.

The Blades had a pair of powerplays near the halfway mark of the opening stanza but the Pats’ 22nd rank penalty kill stepped up and killed them both.

The Blades finally broke the ice at 15:21 when Egor Sidorov picked up the puck at the left faceoff circle, turned, and fired a quick, rising shot past Drew Sim. His 18th of the season gave the Blades a 1-0 lead.

On their first powerplay of the game, the Pats got even. Ryker Evans passed the puck to Tanner Howe at the right point who then sent a pass to Logan Nijhoff who was to the left of Blades goalie Ethan Chadwick. Nijhoff corraled the pass and tucked home his 17th of the season at 16:52 to make it a 1-1 game heading into the first intermission.

The shots were 13 apiece after 20 minutes.

The Blades started to pour it on in the second period and Sim and the Pats were up to the task.

Late in the period, a little mixup behind the Pats net got them caught in their zone, and had trouble getting things under control. The Blades made them pay.

Marek Schneider hammered home his first career goal at 16:14 of the second period when he found the puck to the right of Sim and wired it past the Pats netminder. The Blades had a late period 2-1 lead.

The Pats managed very little offense as it felt like they had trouble getting going in the middle stanza.

The Blades continued to rack up the shots by a 21-4 count in the second and 34-17 after 40 minutes.

Despite trailing 2-1, Sim was playing one of his best games of the season.

Tristen Robins gave the Blades a 3-1 lead 3:11 into the third period as he sniped his 32nd goal of the season. Robins turned on the jets and won the race to the puck in the Pats zone and put it past Sim.

After a scrappy first 45 minutes, gloves hit the ice as the Pats’ Zane Rowan dropped the mitts with Schneider.

The Pats pulled Sim with 2:26 left but had no response to the Blades who smothered any offensive opportunities the Pats had.

The Pats finished 1-for-2 on the powerplay while the Blades went 0-for-4.

Sim stopped 41 of 44 Blades blasts in the loss. Chadwick stopped 23 to pick up his sixth win of the season.

Patterings: Connor Bedard’s point streak ended at 21 games…The three stars were a Blades sweep: Schneider, Chadwick, and Gronick…The Pats’ next action is Saturday night when they host the Brandon Wheat Kings.