Blades Win Game 3....Game 4 Tonight

The Lethbridge Hurricanes find themselves trailing their best of 7 first round playoff series two games to one after a 3-1 loss to Saskatoon last night at the Enmax Centre.

The Hurricanes came out flying in game 3 and dominated the Blades in the opening 20 minutes, out shooting Saskatoon 8-2 in the first period. The Canes' opened the scoring when Austin Fyten notched a power play goal. The Hurricanes have scored first in every game in this series so far. Lethbridge had about 5 really good chances to score in the first period, shots that were either stopped by Blades goaltender Braden Holtby or missed chances for the Hurricanes. Saskatoon though made some adjustments after that and came out to take control of the rest of the game. The Blades scored twice in the second to go up 2-1 and then former Hurricane Adam Chorneyko would add the insurance goal for Saskatoon in the 3rd and Blades would win it 3-1.

Braden Holtby was very good in goal for Saskatoon. He made a couple of very good stops, including what could've been the game saver in the second period when he robbed Carter Ashton. Holtby fell backwards and swung his right arm out to knock the puck away to save what looked to be a sure goal.

The Hurricanes now will have to play desperate hockey again. They trail this series and need to tie things up with a win tonight. The Canes' need to sustain pressure for an entire 60 minutes. Lethbridge had the momentum last night after a great first period. Saskatoon took that away.

This is not a do or die game tonight for the Hurricanes, but at the same time the team can't afford to go down 3-1 in this series with game 5 back in Saskatoon on Saturday. They might have to approach it like a do or die though. The Canes' need to concentrate now on evening things up. Lethbridge played fantastic in game two after dropping game one last weekend. They responded with a strong performance and they'll need that again this evening in game 4.

You have to give the Blades credit for coming back last night. Lethbridge totally dominated them in the first period, but Saskatoon turned the tide on the Canes. The motivation for the Canes' should be pretty simple tonight. Win and they're back in this series.

One other note. I received an email from the Lethbridge Hockey Hounds. They're putting out a challenge to all Hurricanes fans attending home games during the playoffs to by 50/50 tickets. Last year the Hockey Hounds donated $119,000 to the Hurricanes education fund and $51,000 came from just 10 playoff games. Of course the more you buy, the bigger the 50/50!

Tonight's game starts at 7. The pre-game show on CJOC at 6:30.