Friday 22 November 2013

Blades Beat Hurricanes 5-2 in Saskatoon

SASKATOON, SK. - The Saskatoon Blades scored three times in the second period, twice on the power play as they beat the Lethbridge Hurricanes 5-2 Friday night at Credit Union Centre.

The Lethbridge Hurricanes would strike first in this hockey game. Just over 10 minutes into the first period, Riley Sheen's pass would send Tyler Wong in all alone and he would fire a shot over the glove hand of Alex Moody to give Lethbridge a 1-0 lead. That was Wong's team-leading 10th goal of the season. The Blades came back in the final 5 minutes with a strong push, but Corbin Boes was able to keep them off the score sheet and the Hurricanes would take that one goal lead into the dressing room through 20 minutes of play. Saskatoon out shot Lethbridge 14-11.

In the second, the Blades would open the period with a pair of quick goals. Less than a minute in, Nikita Scherbak would beat Boes to tie the game at 1-1. A couple of minutes later, Saskatoon would take its first lead of the game. The Blades' Nick Zajac hammered a shot on the power play, off the crossbar and by Boes to give the home team their first lead of the night, 2-1. It stayed that way until literally the final seconds of the period when the Hurricanes got into some penalty trouble and that put Saskatoon on a 5-on-3 power play. With just 0.1 seconds left on the clock, Brett Stovin was able to get the puck by Boes to give the Blades a 3-1 lead after 40 minutes of play. Saskatoon also held a 31-25 edge in shots on goal.

In the third, the Hurricanes would cut the Blades lead to one when Tyler Wong scored on the power play, tipping in a Nick Walters point shot. That was his 2nd of the night and 11th of the season. That made it 3-2 for Saskatoon. The Blades though would get that one back a few minutes later. Nikita Scherbak moved down the left wing and fired a shot between the legs of Corbin Boes giving the Blades a 4-2 lead. That was Scherbak's 2nd goal of the night and 3rd point. The Hurricanes pulled the goalie late to try and get back into the game, but Colin Valcourt would ice it with an empty netter and the Blades would skate away with a 5-2 win, ending a 5 game losing skid. This was a wide open game as well as the shots favour Saskatoon 42-41. The Canes were 1/5 on the power play and Saskatoon 2/5. The loss drops the Hurricanes record to 3-19-2-2 on the season. They have just one victory in their last 14 games.

Taylor Copper Injury Update

Hurricanes GM Brad Robson joined me during the second intermission in Saskatoon. He says forward Taylor Cooper will be out a couple of weeks after slamming into the boards during the game against Everett on Wednesday. Luckily, Cooper didn't break a single bone in his body, but he did hurt his shoulder and had a concussion. The good news is, Robson says Cooper isn't having headaches anymore. Friday's game in Saskatoon did see the return of forwards Reid Duke and Riley Sheen, who both missed the past few weeks with upper body injuries.

Next Up

The Hurricanes will play their next game in Prince Albert Saturday (Nov. 23) when they take on the Raiders for the first time this season. P.A. is off to a good start this year, currently sitting in 4th place in the Eastern Conference. It'll be Spencer Meyer's and Craig Leverton's first games against their former teams since being traded at the start of this WHL season. Game time is 6:00 pm. The pre-game show on CJOC at 5:30. The Hurricanes next home game is Friday, November 29th when they host Edmonton. This game has been pushed back by a half hour with puck drop slated for 7:30 pm MST from the ENMAX Centre. The Oil Kings will play in Lethbridge again two days later on Sunday (Dec. 1). Game time is 6:00 pm MST.

Thanks,
Pat

3 comments:

  1. I watched this game in its entirety again. The Canes actually outshot the Blades 44-35 in this game, outchanced them, and missed the net frequently on great opportunities. Could have ended much different.... but didn't.

    The Blades scored on their first two shots of the second period on good shots, and those were the only two goals they earned in this game.

    Boes made a good play to prevent an opportunity while short-handed 3 on 5, but also was slow to get up, coupled with a bad decision by Walters to skate behind the net rather than cover one of the two players in scoring position in front of it, and the Blades had an easy goal in the last second of the second period. Devastating.

    Boes made another real nice stop on a short-handed breakaway from the blue line in (Geese in formation made for an interesting Mighty Ducks hockey movie, but the Canes should stop it; 0 shots on 3 of 5 powerplays), only to dash all Cane hopes by letting in a soft fourth one through his broken butterfly.

    Several Cane players missed the net entirely from the slot, and a few players did this several times. Other than the two Canes goals on great shots, it was either in Moodie's LOGO or they missed the net. He stayed between the posts, and they made him look very good.

    The game against Everett and after this one, its hard to tell whether the Canes are going to break out and win the next 9 of 10, or lose another 9 of 10.

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  2. As long as Drake continues to play Boes as the number 1 goalie the Canes will lose more than they win. I question both Boes as a goalie below average talent who has not improved this season. Same mistakes over and over! I also question Battah as a coach because Boes has not improved or his ability to recognize Boes limited talent.

    A View from Above

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  3. Not sure Sacher is showing any reason for him to be the number 1 guy.

    And not sure if the Canes will win the next 9 of 10 or lose???

    It is pretty clear and saying they win one of those 10 is probably pretty optimistic.

    Moon

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