LATE THIRD PERIOD GOALS COST THE BLADES IN CALGARY
(Photo Courtesy of Candice Ward/Calgary Hitmen)
CALGARY, AB – The Blades heading into their final visit to the Saddledome and were going in a tough Calgary squad that has won all their meetings this season as it once again turned into a big game for the Blades but the result came similar as to the game in Edmonton the night before.
“I thought it was two very similar. We gave up a late goal in the second period on a turn over and a turnover again in the third which ended up giving them a power play goal. It’s just little mistakes from our young guys and that’s part of the process here,” says Bob Woods on the comparisons between the Edmonton and Calgary games.
Saskatoon and Calgary both exchanged high quality chances early on as the period started to roll along.
The shots were 12-10 in favour of the Hitmen in the scoreless first.
The second period started off hot as a Hitmen power-play went to work. 6172Jakob Stukel’s pass across to Jake Bean stumbled but Bean still found a way to get enough on it to get a wide open net to open the scoring just 31 seconds into the second to make it 1-0.
Right off the draw, Cameron Hebig won it to Connor Gay and scored on a wrist shot that beat Porter blocker side to tie the game at one.
Saskatoon would get a man advantage and capitalize as Connor Gay from the left wing would back hand it to Nick Zajac who sniped it high glove to give the Blades their first lead of the game with a 2-1 score.
With 9.1 seconds left in the second, the Blades couldn’t clear it out of the zone and Matteo Gennaro’s shot is stopped but an open cage for Carsen Twarynski would tie the game up at 2 as both teams were heading into the second period.
The Hitmen are 7-5-1-0 when tied after 40 minutes and the Blades were 1-2-1-0 and it showed qucikly for the Hitmen.
Less than three minutes into the third, Aaron Hyman’s point shot is blocked but Taylor Sanheim picked the puck up and gave it to Dawson Martin whose shot just squeaked by Smith to give the Hitmen a 3-2 lead.
Calgary turned into a whole new gear as they kept adding the pressure and spent most of the period in the Saskatoon zone.
Calgary would take advantage of a Ryan Graham penalty and Jordy Stallard’s initial shot went off a Blades skate and the puck went right to Matteo Gennaro as Smith had no chance on the shot which made it 4-2.
With 2:30 left in the third, Keegan Kanzig’s shot seemed to hit something in front but regardless it got past Smith which would be the insurance as the Hitmen won this game and swept the season series.
The Hitmen finished the game with 49 shots on goal. 23 of those shots coming that third period alone.
“I thought we dominated for the first two periods and not the third. That goal with 17 seconds left in the second was a real momentum killer because we were playing so well and the third period was our worst period for sure,” says Connor Gay who finished the night with two points.
The Blades will have another thought weekend as the Blades will play a home and home series against Brandon.
“You better be focused because it’s a very tough team and we’ve seen what happens if you’re not ready to play against them. We want a repeat of how we beat them last time at home and bring that same emotion and energy. We also have to go into their building which we know what that’s like,” added Woods on the weekend ahead against Brandon.
They will welcome the Wheat Kings on Friday night and head to Brandon to play Saturday night.
