ROUND 1 GAME 7 PREVIEW | Win or go home for the Blades at Rogers Place
Key Players, Notable Stats, How to Watch and More
The two best words in all of sport… Game 7.
The Saskatoon Blades and Edmonton Oil Kings clash at Rogers Place in a do-or-die finale of their best-of-seven Round 1 series presented by Discover Saskatoon. Puck drop from Edmonton is 7:00pm.
Tonight marks the only seventh and deciding game in Round 1 of the Western Hockey League (WHL) Playoffs presented by Nutrien.
“There’s nothing to save it (our energy) for today,” said Blades for Cooper Williams, “Final game of the series, Game 7, nothing better than that.”
It’s a quick turnaround for the Blue and Gold who lost a heartbreaker in double-overtime on Sunday 3-2 in Game 6 at SaskTel Centre. The Oil Kings took a 2-0 lead with under four minutes remaining in the opening frame, but Blades defenceman Brayden Klimpke cut the deficit in half before the end of 20 minutes. The NHL Draft-eligible defenceman notched his first career playoff goal, giving him four points (1G, 3A) in six game this series.
It looked like the Oil Kings were headed for a 2-1 regulation win. Williams scored with seven seconds left in regulation on the Blades third shot of the period to force overtime and send 5,000+ inside SaskTel Centre into a frenzy.
“It was unreal,” said Williams, “Like you said, the crowd, it was unreal and felt good to see that one go in.”
The Blades outshot the Oil Kings 21-14 across nearly two overtime periods. The game ended in controversy with a hooking call against the Blades 12:53 into the second overtime, leading to Miroslav Holinka’s overtime winner for Edmonton on the powerplay.
“There’s probably eight penalties in overtime that could’ve been called,” said Blades Head Coach Dan DaSilva, “One just minutes before on our captain along the boards, (he) gets hit from behind with touching the puck, without the puck really coming anywhere near him, and they (the refs) don’t call that. A pretty egregious hit from behind, board, whatever you want to call it. Then you decide to step in and call a trip 190 feet from our end without being a scoring chance or without having really anything to do with the play. So anyways, it is what it is, maybe they (the refs) had Easter Dinner plans.”
Special teams went in favour of the Oil Kings in Game 6. The Blades went 0/1 on the sole powerplay attempt, while Edmonton notched two goals on both man-advantage opportunities.
If the Blades win, Round 2 of the WHL Playoffs presented by Nutrien would feature the Bridge City Bunch against the Prince Albert Raiders.
The good guys
Edmonton Oil Kings draft pick David Lewandowski and Calgary Flames draft pick Hunter Laing leads the Blades in scoring with six points. Lewandowski has a pair of goals and four assist while Laing has three of each. Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Evan Gardner stopped 41 of 44 shots in Game 6 to fall to 3-1-2 this postseason. The third-year netminder has a .912 save percentage (SV%) and 2.66 goals against average (GAA).
The opposition
Holinka has been on a tear through Round 1. The 6-foot-2 centre has seven goals and three assists on a five-game point streak.
Watch & Listen
Coverage for Game 7 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.
