The Thursday matinee at the Subway WHL Hub at the Brandt Centre had the Saskatoon Blades (14-2-2-0) “hosting” the Regina Pats (6-9-2-1). The East Division Hub-leading Blades looked to cement their place in that position. The Pats tried to get out of the three-way logjam for fourth in the division.
The Pats went back to 20-year-old goalie Roddy Ross for this contest. The Blades went with backup goaltender Koen MacInnes.
The Blades beat the Pats in both previous games of the season outscoring them 13-6 in the two games.
Rhett Rhinehart’s first career hat-trick led the Blades to a convincing 4-1 over the Pats. Kyle Crnkovic added an insurance goal into the empty net for Saskatoon. Pats’ captain Logan Nijhoff scored the lone goal for the Pats in the loss.
Here are how things went…
First period
Good start for the Pats with some early pressure, but it amounted to little but pressure in the Blades zone.
The Blades then started taking control of the first 20 minutes.
Rhinehart fired the opening salvo when his long shot hit bodies in front of Ross and it somehow eluded the Pat netminder. Rhinehart’s second of the season gave the Blades a 1-0 lead 8:07 into the period.
Rhinehart gave the Blades a two-goal lead when he connected with a powerplay marker. Brandon Lisowsky won a puck battle along the boards and the puck got to Rhinehart who waited for some traffic and fired the puck short side on Ross. His second of the game and third of the season at 11:41 gave the Blades a 2-0 lead.
Tanner Howe had the Pats’ best chance of the period when he ripped the puck off the crossbar.
The Blades had control for much of the first and a 13-8 advantage on the shot clock.
“We created offense, we didn’t bury some in the first that we thought we could have had a chance on,” explained Pats head coach Dave Struch. “That’s where it is, we did a lot of good things in our zone, through the neutral zone. Or checking was better tonight and if we score a couple in the first, even the second with when we outshot them that there would be a little bit more momentum on our side and maybe get them back on their heels a little bit more, but they’re a good team.”
Second period
Another strong start to a period by the Pats, only this time they were able to capitalize.
The Pats got on the board at 3:08. Nijhoff broke in on a breakaway and his shot was stopped but the rebound bounced in off Rhinehart’s right skate and past MacInnes. Nijhoff’s ninth of the season made it a one-goal game. Defensemen Tom Cadieux and Ryker Evans picked up assists on the 2-1 goal.
The Blades made it 3-1 with less than two minutes left in the period. Crnkovic fed a wide-open Rhinehart who completed the hat-trick. His wrist shot beat Ross over his shoulder.
The Pats did get back into the game to an extent but Rhinehart’s third goal put a damper on the comeback. The Pats had a 10-6 shot advantage in the middle twenty minutes.
Third period
After the Blades had the first five powerplays of the game, the Pats received their first man advantage at 10:17 of the period. It was short-lived as the Pats took a minor halfway through it.
The Blades had much of the control in the first part of the third.
The Pats did get some pressure late, but they were unable to get through the Blade defense.
Crnkovic’s eighth of the season into an empty net finished off any hope that the Pats had of any sort of a comeback. The goal at 18:58 made it 4-1.
The Blades outshot the Pats 16-3 in the third and 35-21 overall.
“I thought we played really good,” said Struch. “I thought everybody did and I mean we made mistakes that both teams made. They got some shots in the third period that I didn’t like where they got them from.”
“They’re a good team even with Dach and Robins out. They’ve got some good players, they’ve got some highly skilled players and we’ve said it, we’ve got to be near perfect for us to beat these top-end teams.”
Patterings: Colby Wotton left the game late in the first period after getting checked by Smith of the Blades. He returned for the second period. Ross was again strong in the Pats’ goal making 31 saves on 34 Blade shots he faced. The Pats went 0-for-1 on the powerplay and killed 5-of-6 penalties.
