Blades 2
Rebels 1
The Red Deer Rebels tied it in the third period but the Saskatoon Blades scored in overtime to win 2-1 in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
Blades Ben Saunderson scored in the extra frame with just under three minutes left in the game on Sunday in Saskatoon to give them a 2-0 series lead.
The Rebels were outshot 49-25 but netminder Chase Wutzke was tremendous in net with 47 saves. On the other side of the ice, Blades goaltender Evan Gardner stood tall making 24 saves.
Despite the loss, Rebels interim head coach Dave Struch applauded his team’s effort compared to Game 1.
“Our effort was where it needed to be we just didn’t make it happen tonight,” he said.
“I know the shot total wasn’t where it’s supposed to be when you’re in a playoff series but I thought we did some really good things without the puck in the first two periods.
“Chase gave us a good chance to get things going in the third but the overall intensity that we had from start to finish tonight was good. They’re a good team but the things we did in the third and overtime gave us the belief we can play with them.”
In the first period, both teams struggled to gain momentum on the offensive end. Despite getting two powerplay opportunities, the Rebels only managed two shots on net to the Blades’ seven shots.
In the second period, the Rebels caught a tough break under six minutes into the frame. While killing a penalty, forward Carson Latimer took a delay of game penalty while trying to clear the puck out of Red Deer’s zone.
The Blades had a five-on-three powerplay for nearly a minute and a half but ultimately the Rebels killed both off.
Blades forward Fraser Minten scored his fourth goal of the playoffs just over midway through the period. Minten was sprung on a breakaway and beat Wutzke on the blocker side down low to take a 1-0 lead.
Red Deer got into more penalty trouble when Dwayne Jean Jr. went off for four minutes for a high stick with three and a half minutes left in the frame.
The Rebels prevented the Blades from building on their lead heading into the intermission but their offensive game continued to struggle. Red Deer had just 10 shots through 40 minutes and Saskatoon found their game piling on a combined 28 shots.
The Rebels played their best hockey in the third period.
They finally got on the board just 4:10 into the frame on the powerplay. Forward Kalan Lind tipped in a point shot from defenceman Hunter Mayo to tie the game at one.
A few minutes later, Blades Easton Armstrong was given a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct after he collided with Rebels netminder Chase Wutzke.
Luckily for the Rebels, Wutzke stayed in the game but they were unable to make them pay, despite a productive powerplay with plenty of scoring chances.
That missed opportunity proved costly for Red Deer. They finished the game just one for four on the man advantage on Sunday
“Anytime you’re on the powerplay and you’re breaking out a lot it’s not a momentum builder. We did that a lot tonight and we’re going to give them some credit but we still needed to get more generated on that powerplay,” he added.
“It’s something we’ll work on and get better at for Tuesday night.”
Red Deer’s penalty came up big once again killing off their sixth penalty to keep it tied late in the final frame. The Blades had one of the top powerplays in the league and the Rebels held the scoreless on the man advantage.
“It starts with Chase too. Your goaltender is always your best penalty killer and tonight he did a good job. We blocked a lot of shots more than we did the first night but we need to get better at our clears,” Struch said.
In overtime, after both teams had multiple scoring chances the Blades sealed the deal with the game-winning goal.
The series now shifts to Red Deer for Games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Peavey Mart Centrium. Both are set to begin at 7 p.m.
“It’s playoffs so every game is a must-win game. I think we can take some momentum from tonight and build on it over the next day. We think about those things and do that and more on Tuesday.”