Hurricanes Suffer Fifth Straight Loss, Fall 4-1 to Blades
Saskatoon, SK – The Lethbridge Hurricanes suffered their fifth-straight loss on Friday falling 4-1 in Saskatoon to the Blades at SaskTel Centre.
The Hurricanes continued a stretch of nine games in nine different cities on Friday. Lethbridge had a good start to the game with a pair of early scoring chances by their top line, but Blades netminder Evan Gardner was solid early. Brady Smith earned the start for the Hurricanes and he was busy and strong in the first period stopping all 12 Saskatoon shots including two point-blank chances for Brandon Lisowksy and Jordan Martin to keep the game scoreless. The ‘Canes had a late power play to close the first period and Brayden Edwards had a glorious chance on a rebound but couldn’t open the scoring as the game was scoreless after one period. The Blades held the edge in shots 12-10 in the first period.
Lethbridge opened the second period with 51-seconds left on a power play but couldn’t solve Gardner. Shortly after the power play expired, the Blades struck first with a breakaway goal just 1:21 into the frame when Brandon Lisowsky pulled away and wired home his 12th goal of the season to make it 1-0. Landen Ward was assessed a cross-checking penalty just 14-seconds after the goal resulting in the Saskatoon’s second power play of the game and the Blades struck to make it a 2-0 game as Rowan Calvert redirected a Tanner Molendyk point shot at the 3:32 mark – Ben Riche earned the second assist on the goal which came just 2:11 after the opening goal. Lethbridge pressed in the back-half of the period peppering Saskatoon with their best chance coming from a shot by Logan McCutcheon who searched for his fourth goal of the year. Lethbridge outshot Saskatoon 16-11 in the second period.
In the third period, the Blades struck twice in a span of 22-seconds to open a 4-0 lead. At the 6:31 mark, Lukas Hansen stuffed home a loose puck at the side of the net for his second goal to make it 3-0; Grayden Siepmann and William James earned the assist. On the next shift, the Blades struck again when Zach Olsen buried a one-timer from the slot from a centering pass from Colten Worthington to make it a 4-0 advantage. Lethbridge broke the shutout bid at the 8:24 mark when Noah Chadwick ripped home his fifth goal of the year to make it a 4-1 game; Leo Braillard and Chase Petersen picked up assists – for Petersen it was his first WHL point. The ‘Canes pressed to find another, but they couldn’t cut into the lead as Saskatoon held on to the 4-1 victory.
The Hurricanes were outshot 15-5 in the third period and 38-31 in the game by the Blades. Lethbridge went 0/2 on the power play while Saskatoon was 1/3 with the extra man.
Three stars of the game were:
1) Blades – #35 Evan Gardner (30-saves)
2) Blades – #28 Lukas Hansen (1 goal)
3) Blades – #9 Zach Olsen (1 goal)
The loss for the Hurricanes extended their season-long losing streak to five straight games going 0-4-0-1 in that span. Lethbridge fell to 12-9-1-1 on the season while their road record slipped to 4-7-0-1 on the season. It marked just the second loss of the season for the ‘Canes against East Division opponents.
The Hurricanes will complete a stretch of five straight road games on Saturday when they visit the Prince Albert Raiders at 6:00pm MT at the Art Hauser Centre. Lethbridge will return home to welcome the Moose Jaw Warriors on Tuesday, December 3rd at 7:00pm at the VisitLethbridge.com Arena. 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.
