ROUND 1 GAME 5 PREVIEW | Blades, Oil Kings shifts to best-of-three series at Rogers Place
Key Players, Notable Stats, How to Watch and More
Round 1 presented by Discover Saskatoon between the Saskatoon Blades and Edmonton Oil Kings is now a best-of-three series.
Game 5 between the two Eastern Conference clubs gets underway from Rogers Place at 6:00pm. The series is tied 2-2 after the Blades split games 3 and 4 on home ice earlier this week. The Bridge City Bunch erased a 3-1 deficit in Game 3 to comeback and win 4-3 but lost the next night 5-2 in Game 4. Blades forward Kazden Mathies says the team is building off lessons learned through each game.
“Everything resets in playoffs,” said Blades forward Kazden Mathies, ” We’ve shown we can be the better team in this series, and if we continue to do that (by being) more physical, throw pucks to the net, I think we’ve had the most shots on them all four games, so continue to do that, we’ll have a good chance of winning.”
Mathies netted his first goal of his postseason career in Game 4. After the Oil Kings struck first in the first period, the Martensville, SK native responded to bring 4,834 Bridge City Faithful to their feet.
The tie was short-lived as Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Miroslav Holinka scored his second goal of the period to give Edmonton a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes. Oil Kings forward Lukas Sawchyn put the Oil Kings up 3-1 in the middle frame until Calgary Flames draft pick Hunter Laing responded to cut the Blades’ deficit in half. Holinka potted another late goal in the period to complete the hat-trick, and an empty-net goal from St. Louis Blues draft pick Adam Jecho sealed the game 5-2 Edmonton.
“I think we lacked a little bit of bite in our game,” said Blades Head Coach Dan DaSilva.
The special teams battle was won by the visitors who went 1/2 on the man-advantage and held the Blades to zero powerplay goals on three attempts. Regardless of the result in Game 5, Game 6 returns to SaskTel Centre at 2:00pm on Sunday, Apr. 5.
The good guys
The Blades have opened the scoring in three of four games this series. Saskatoon’s also outshot the Oil Kings in every contest, leading the series 140-125 in the shot department. Saskatoon’s powerplay has three goals on 19 attempts, good for 15.8%. The penalty kill is operating at 66.7%, allowing five goals on 15 attempts. Edmonton Oilers draft pick David Lewandowski leads the team in points with five (2G, 3A) in four games. 2007-born forward Hayden Harsanyi’s three goals in games 1 and 2 are the most on the team. Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Evan Gardner is 2-2 with a .895 save percentage (SV%) and 3.07 goals against average (GAA). In 23 career postseason appearances, Gardner is 12-6-4 with a .902 SV%, 2.85 GAA, and one shutout.
The opposition
The Oil Kings were without several key pieces in their lineup in games 3 and 4. Rookie netminder Parker Snell didn’t dress after going 1-1 through the first two games, stoping 68 of 74 shots. Snell’s 41 saves on 44 shots in Edmonton’s Game 2 victory bumped him to a .919 SV% and 2.66 GAA. Seattle Kraken draft pick Blake Fiddler and gritty forward Aaron Obobaifo also didn’t dress for both games on the road.
Watch & Listen
Coverage for Game 5 of Round 1 presented by Discover Saskatoon is FREE on Victory+ TV. Blades Play-by-Play Announcer Les Lazaruk and Blades Communications Manager Tanner Chubey will have the call on the Victory+ away feed. Coverage begins at 6:45 with the pre-game show on the radio on 600CJWW. To watch tonight’s game for FREE, click HERE.
