Hurricanes Blank Blades 2-0 to Open Road Trip
Saskatoon, SK – The Lethbridge Hurricanes earned their second-straight victory on Tuesday with a 2-0 road victory over the Saskatoon Blades at SaskTel Centre.
The Hurricanes opened their final extended road trip of the regular season on Tuesday against Saskatoon as it marked the first of a four-game East Division trip. The Blades had an early power play opportunity when Brayden Yager was assessed a slashing call, but Saskatoon was unable to capitalize with the extra man as Jackson Unger was strong early to keep it scoreless. The Hurricanes jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Chase Petersen buried his second career goal – both against the Blades – at the 12:35 mark when he jumped through a crowd for the loose puck before snapping home the opener; Logan McCutcheon and Vojtech Port picked up the assists on the goal. The ‘Canes had a great first period as they came close again when Luke Cozens chipped a shot off the outside of the goal post. Lethbridge outshot Saskatoon 14-5 in the first period.
Saskatoon had four separate power play opportunities in the second period as they outshot Lethbridge 14-4 in the middle frame. The Blades on their first man advantage of the period got crossed up as the ‘Canes blueline; Brayden Edwards sprung Luke Cozens on a two-on-one and the second year forward made a perfect saucer pass across to McCutcheon who ripped home his eighth goal of the season to make it a 2-0 Lethbridge lead with their 12th shorthanded goal of the year. Saskatoon came close to cutting into the lead on yet another man advantage when rookie forward Cooper Williams wired a shot off the goal post. The ‘Canes answered with a trio of chances themselves including a Shane Smith breakaway, but he was stopped by Blades goaltender Ethan McCallum with the right leg. Lethbridge had a great look late in the period when Caden Price ripped a back hand shot off the crossbar as the ‘Canes held a 2-0 lead after two periods.
In the third period, the Hurricanes held the Blades to just 10 shots on goal as Saskatoon outshot Lethbridge 10-9 in the final twenty minutes. At the midway point of the frame, the Blades started to create chances as they had a point-blank look by William James who whacked a puck on goal, but Unger made a glove save to keep it a 2-0 game. Saskatoon pulled the goaltender with two-minutes remaining in the game, but the Blades were only able to generate two shots on goal as the ‘Canes were able to steer home the road win to open their road trip with the 2-0 victory as Unger earned his first shutout as a Hurricane.
The Hurricanes were outshot 29-27 by the Blades in the game. Lethbridge went 0/2 on the power play while going 6/6 on the penalty kill.
Three stars of the game were:
1) ‘Canes – #35 Jackson Unger (29-save shutout)
2) ‘Canes – #2 Logan McCutcheon (1 goal, 1 assist)
3) Blades – #33 Ethan McCallum (25-saves)
The win for the Hurricanes was their second-straight victory as they improved to 15-13-1-1 on the road this year while lifting their road record to 12-3-1-0 in their last 16 away from home. Lethbridge’s overall record improved to 36-19-2-1 on the season as their record against the East Division lifted to 16-4-0-0 on the season.
The Hurricanes will continue their four-game East Division road trip on Wednesday when they visit the Prince Albert Raiders at the Art Hauser Centre at 6:00pm MT before visiting Brandon and Regina on the weekend. Lethbridge will return to the VisitLethbridge.com Arena on Wednesday, March 5th when they welcome the Kelowna Rockets. Tickets can be purchased by visiting the Yates Memorial Theatre or VisitLethbridge.com Arena Ticket Centre, by calling 403-329-SEAT (7328) or online at www.visitlethbridgearena.ca.
