Hurricanes Suffer Third Straight Loss; Fall 8-3 to Blades
Saskatoon, SK – The Lethbridge Hurricanes continued a three-game East Division road trip on Friday with an 8-3 loss to the Saskatoon Blades at the SaskTel Centre.
The Hurricanes debuted a pair of new players in the game as overage forward Andrew Petruk and 19-year-old defenceman Fraser Leonard joined the ‘Canes from the British Columbia Hockey League after a reinstatement from Hockey Canada. Petruk – who had appeared in 142 career WHL games split with the Everett Silvertips and Kelowna Rockets – made his impact on his first shift as he banged home a loose puck to give Lethbridge an early 1-0 lead just 2:36 into the game as Petruk scored on his first shift with the Hurricanes; Nathan Maloney was credited with the lone assist on the goal. Saskatoon pulled even with a power play goal when Cooper Williams sniped home his 12th goal of the year beating a screened Leif Oaten to tie the game at the 10:57 mark; Hayden Harsanyi and Hunter Laing picked up the helpers on the goal. Just under a minute later, the Blades took the lead as a dumped puck rattled off the board and Gavin Clark buried his second of the season to make it a 2-1 Saskatoon lead. The Blades outshot the Hurricanes 15-7 in the opening period.
Lethbridge started the second period on a power play, but they were unable to capitalize with the extra man. Saskatoon added to their lead at the 5:59 mark when Rowan Calvert scored his team-leading 16th goal of the season on a delayed power play to make it a 3-1 game; Harsanyi and Brayden Klimpke wered credited with the assists on the goal. Less than a minute later, the Blades struck on a man advantage as former Hurricanes defenceman Tristen Doyle ripped home a slapshot at the 6:44 mark to make it a 4-1 Saskatoon advantage; Harsanyi picked up his fourth assist of the game. Saskatoon added another in short-order before the midway point of the period as Kazden Mathies scored his second goal in as many games to build a four-goal lead for the Blades – Saskatoon scored the three goals in a span of 3:02. Fireworks went off with a pair of fights late in the second period as Petruk squared off with Triston Mitchell-McElhone before Gavin Lesiuk fought Zach Olsen as the Blades held on to a 5-1 lead after two periods. The Hurricanes outshot the Blades 11-10 in the middle frame.
In the third period, the Hurricanes came out buzzing for the second straight game and jumped on the board early when Kai Anderson buried his sixth goal of the season at the tail end of the power play to make it a 5-2 game just 3:17 into the period; Leonard and Kade Duell picked up the assists on the goal. Lethbridge struck against just 1:33 later as Kayden Longley banged home a rebound for his eighth goal of the season to close the gap to two goals; Anderson and Owen Berge were credited with the assists on the goal that made it 5-3. However, a power play goal by Hunter Laing at 9:37 restored a three-goal cushion for the Blades as Saskatoon improved to 3-for-3 on the man advantage in the game. Laing struck again with four-minutes remaining before Jack Kachkowski completed the scoring with his fifth goal of the season to make it an 8-3 final for the Blades. Saskatoon held the edge in shots 15-8 in the third period.
The Hurricanes were outshot by the Blades 40-26 in the contest. Lethbridge went 1/4 on the power play while Saskatoon was 3/4 with the extra man.
Three stars of the game were:
1) Blades – #26 Hayden Harsanyi (5 assists)
2) Blades – #27 Hunter Laing (2 goals, 1 assist)
3) Blades – #47 Tristen Doyle (1 goal)
The loss for the Hurricanes was their third-straight loss as they fell to 0-2-0-0 on their three-game East Division road trip. Lethbridge’s record fell to 7-9-0-0 in their last 16 games with their overall record falling to 10-21-0-1 this season. The ‘Canes are now 5-12-0-0 on the road this season while falling to 2-8-0-0 against the East Division.
The Hurricanes will end their three-game East Division road trip on Saturday when they visit the Prince Albert Raiders at the Art Hauser Center at 6:00pm MT. Lethbridge will return to the VisitLethbridge.com Arena on Tuesday, December 16th at 7:00pm when they welcome the Edmonton Oil Kings in their final game before the Christmas break. Tickets for the game can be purchased by visiting the VisitLethbridge.com Arena Ticket Centre, by calling 403-329-SEAT (7328) or online at www.visitlethbridgearena.ca.
