Blades Face Must Win Situation in Lethbridge
Both Teams have struggled on the power-play, with the Blades going 3 for 25 (12%), and the Hurricanes having gone 3 for 24 (12.5%) while on the man advantage.
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The Blades are lead offensively against the Hurricanes in the playoffs by Derek Hulak who has collected 5 points (2G 3A). Walker Wintoneak (2G 1A), Jyri Niemi (1G 2A), Stefan Elliott (1G 2A), and Adam Chorneyko (1G 2A) each have collected 3 points a piece for the Blades in this series. Braden Holtby of the Blades has played in all 4 games in net for the Blades, posting a 2.24 GAA and a 91.3% save percentage. For the Hurricanes, Zach Boychuk has also collected 8 points (6G 2A) to lead Lethbridge in scoring.
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BLADES NEWS & NOTES –
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– The 2008-2009 Saskatoon Blades wrote themselves into the record books this year by tying the WHL record for road wins with 28. The Blades domination on the road this season included a 13 game road winning streak between October the 7th and December the 5th, and another 8 game streak from January 3rd through February 4th. The Blades final road record was a league best 28-6-1-1.
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By The Numbers
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– 1091 Sleeps – Last Friday’s Blades victory was the first time since March 25, 2006 that the Blades won a home playoff game. The Blades, who then defeated the Regina Pats by a score of 4-1 to take a 2-1 lead in the series, won the last two games of the series in Regina before being swept by the Medicine Hat Tigers in the 2nd round.
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– With just 153 games of playoff experience under their belts (incl the 95 man games played in this series thus far) the Saskatoon Blades are the 2nd least experienced team in the 2009 WHL Playoffs. Only the 2nd year franchise Edmonton Oil Kings entered the playoffs with less experience then the Blades. 17 of the Blades 22 players had never experienced WHL Playoff hockey prior to the start of this series.
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– Including regular season stats, Blades Captain Derek Hulak has now played in 180 straight games for the Saskatoon Blades. Hulak who led the Blades in scoring this season with 76 points (30G 46A) also leads the Blades in scoring through the first three games of the playoffs with 5 points (2G 3A).
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Game #5 Recap – The Saskatoon Blades dropped their second straight game to the Lethbridge Hurricanes and will now be facing elimination on Monday night in Lethbridge. The Blades surrendered the first goal of the game 5:44 into the first period when Colton Sceviour banged home a loose puck in the midst of a scramble in Braden Holtby's crease. Derek Hulak replied for the Blades at the 11:46 mark when his shot beat Juha Metsola high on the glove side. Zach Boychuk scored his 6th goal of the series on a shorthanded effort with only 5 seconds remaining in the second period to give the Canes a 2-1 lead heading into the third period. Kyle Beach scored his first goal of the series in the third period and the Blades could not find the answer to Metsola.
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Game #4 Recap – The Saskatoon Blades held a 1-0 lead heading into the third period but Zach Boychuk responded with 2 goals in the final frame to lift the Canes to a 2-1 win and a 2-2 series deadlock. For the first time in this series the Saskatoon Blades got on the board first. Gaelan Patterson took a pass from Walker Wintoneak and blew past the Hurricanes defense and lifted a backhand shot that beat Canes goaltender Juha Metsola. The goal came at 16:38 of the first period and was also assisted by Adam Chorneyko. Boychuk tied the game up 3:08 into the third period after the puck appeared to leave the Blades zone but was not called offside by the linesman. The puck was worked down low and Boychuk eventually potted his 4th goal of the series. After some strong work down low by Hurricanes forward Dwight King, the puck found its way onto Boychuk's stick again and he banged home his 5th to give Lethbridge their first lead of the game. The Blades had two late power play opportunities but were unable to connect for the tying goal.
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Game #3 Recap– The Saskatoon Blades rebounded from a 5-2 loss on Saturday night to defeat the Hurricanes in Lethbridge tonight by a score of 3-1. The majority of the opening period was controlled by the Hurricanes, who for the third straight game scored the game's first goal. Austin Fyten scored while on the power play to give the Canes a 1-0 lead. The Blades only managed 2 shots on goal during the first 20 minutes while the Canes fired 9 shots at goaltender Braden Holtby. The Blades would swing momentum back in their favor early in the second period when Milan Kytnar found an open lane and took a shot that appeared to hit a Hurricane and find the back of the net. The power play marker was Kytnar's second goal of the series with assists going to Jyri Niemi and Derek Hulak. At 10:06 of the second the Blades took their first lead when Hulak jumped all over a Burke Gallimore rebound to score his first goal of the series. Holtby was also credited with an assist on the goal. Former Lethbridge Hurricane, Adam Chorneyko, made sure there was no comeback from his former team when he scored an unassisted goal 6:42 into the third period. Braden Holtby was solid between the pipes for the Blades, making several spectacular saves en route to his 2nd career playoff win. The Blades power play was 1/3 while the penalty kill was 4/5.
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Game #2 Recap – Zach Boychuk led the way for the Hurricanes, scoring 3 goals and adding one assist to earn a split in Saskatoon. A funny bounce off the boards led to a breakaway for Boychuk who was hooked in the process but managed to get a backhand shot off which eluded netminder Braden Holtby. Boychuk staked the Canes to a 2-0 lead when he slipped a shot through the legs of Holtby at 17:34 of the first period. The was no more scoring until 1:30 into the third when Saskatoon product Carter Ashton banged home a rebound to put the Canes up 3-0. The Blades were finally rewarded when the line of Milan Kytnar, Burke Gallimore, and Derek Hulak worked hard to keep the puck in the Canes` zone which led to an open shot from the slot from Kytnar and he made no mistake going high glove side. The Hurricanes responded a little less than two minutes later when Boychuk scored his 3rd of the game while the Hurricanes were on a 5 on 3 man advantage. With Luca Sbisa in the box for holding, Lorne Molleken elected to pull Holtby for an extra attacked with less than 7 minutes remaining in the game. The move worked, although the penalty had expired, when Walker Wintoneak scored his 2nd goal of the playoffs to pull the Blades to within 2 goals once again. In the final minute, with Holtby pulled, Dwight King iced the game for the Canes with an empty netter.
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