LETHBRIDGE - The Saskatoon Blades erased a 2-0 deficit to beat the Lethbridge Hurricanes 5-3 last night at the ENMAX Centre.
It was a pretty entertaining, back and forth opening period. The Hurricanes opened the scoring for the second straight game. Alex Kuvaev scored his 10th goal of the season after stealing the puck at the Saskatoon blueline, breaking in all alone and beating Blades goaltender Adam Morrison to make it 1-0 Lethbridge. The Canes' would go ahead 2-0 not too long after that, when Lethbridge found the back of the net again. Austin Fyten poked the puck in after a scramble out in front of the Blades goal for his 7th of the year. The Blades though would get one of those back before the end of the period. Matej Stransky scored for Saskatoon to cut the Hurricanes lead to 2-1 after 20 minutes. The Blades out shot Lethbridge 11-7.
In the second, the end-to-end action would continue. After the Hurricanes had a great chance on a two-on-one rush to go up by a pair, Saskatoon's Darian Dziurzynski went the other way and put a back-hander by Anderson to tie the game 2-2. That's all the scoring we would see in the period as both teams had some very good chances in what, up to this point had been a wide open game. The Hurricanes out shot the Blades 11-9, but the Saskatoon held the edge in shots after 40 minutes 20-18.
In the third, the Blades would take their first lead of the game. Ryan Olson took a pass from Josh Nicholls early in the period and he put the puck passed Anderson to give Saskatoon a 3-2 lead. The Hurricanes would get into some penalty trouble after that. The Blades would end up getting a 5-on-3 power play for over a minute. Teigan Zahn found the back of the net to give the visitors a huge 4-2 lead. The Blades would add one more when Curtis Hamilton picked up a rebound and fired a shot over the glove of Anderson to make it 5-2 Saskatoon. In the final minute of the game, Mark Reners scored to make it 5-3 Blades and that's the way the game would end. Saskatoon heavily out shot Lethbridge in the 3rd period 20-8 for a game total of 40-26 in favour of Saskatoon. Power plays in this game: Saskatoon finished the night 1/7 while Lethbridge went 0/3. The Blades had six of those power plays, including two 5-on-3's in the third period alone. The loss drops the Hurricanes record to 10-9-1-3 on the season. The Canes' have dropped four games in a row.
Things got a little heated late in the game. The Hurricanes bench was not happy with some of the calls from the two officials and neither were the fans. Hurricanes Head Coach Rich Preston got tossed with about 3 minutes remaining in the game, obviously not impressed with some of the calls against his team. Even the fans voiced their displeasure by tossing some debris and boos towards the refs at the end of the hockey game. It was the second night in a row that things got away from the Hurricanes in the third period. As for Saskatoon, the Blades battled hard and really took over in the third period en route to the win. They are a very good hockey club and it showed. It's the third win for Saskatoon over Lethbridge this season.
Injury Update
The Hurricanes played without Cam Braes last night. He sat out after getting injured in the 9-3 loss on Friday to Prince Albert. Jacob Berglund, Graham Hood, and Brody Sutter all remain sidelined with shoulder injuries. All three of those players are listed to be out about a week. The injuries left the Hurricanes with just 11 forwards for last night's game.
Next Up
The Hurricanes will have a few days off until their next game. The Canes' will host the Red Deer Rebels Wednesday night (Nov. 24) at the ENMAX Centre. It'll be the first of four meetings this season between the two teams. That will also be the first of what will be three games in four nights for Lethbridge as they take on Swift Current in a home-and-away set Friday and Saturday.
Thanks,
Pat
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I was impressed by the job the refs did in the first and second periods to be a non-factor in this game. By the end of the game, they made up for it!
ReplyDeleteTot got tripped and tackled while crossing the Blade blue-line with no call, and while surprized, I thought as long as they don't call the same infraction against the Canes, then fine. Jackson was called for interference for a similar infraction later in the game. BOTH were penalties, but yet ONLY Jackson's was called.
Beginning with the call on Reners behind the Blade net in the third, the refs went whistle-happy on the Canes. Using the previous part of the game as a judging-template, Reners should NEVER have been called. Both players were cheating, but only the Blade player fell. This altercation did in no way affect the play, and should have been ignored for consistency.
Again, using the first and second periods as a template, the Reddington penalty which followed to send the Blades on a 5 on 3 should not have been called.
Then Fyten got tripped/slashed crossing the Blade blue line in the third... no call. Then he gets held/pinned to the wall behind the Blade goal for about 20 seconds without the puck with about 5 minutes left in the third... not only was there no call on the defender, but Fyten gets the gate!!! Ridiculous!
I never left a game prior to the end before last night. I left on the Fyten penalty.
I sure wish the league and/or the officials could be penalized for their incompetence. The inconsistency of the officials absolutely cost the Canes a chance at any points in this game.
Fred Jack was bang-on with his comment about the ref positioned right in front of the Canes bench. If you are going to do such a lousy job, you deserve some criticism, so either grow some thicker skin, or G.T.F.O.O.T!!
Hey Pat,
ReplyDeleteBad reffing, and dissappointing losses aside, how much did the boys raise for Breast Cancer?
I'm told we should have a total on the money raised on Monday.
ReplyDeleteWith Rich Preston showing some emotion on the bench, (to the point of being tossed from the game in the third period) that should silence those who constantly complained about his lack of emotion. Of course there will be those who will complain that he is setting a bad example for his players (actually he is sticking up for them). No matter what Preston does someone will find fault with it. Oh well, as they say, "you can't please everyone." What I did enjoy about the third period debacle was the fans who were booing and expressing their displeasure with the men in the zebra stripes.
ReplyDeleteRJS
In last's nights game, Fred made reference to a penalty that Ross took for goaltender interference and how do the ref's not make that call? You can't just skate in the goaltender and not expect the ref to blow that down? How do they not make the call for tripping up Fyten when he crossed the blue line into Blade territory late in the third? How do they not call Blades for too many men on the ice? How do they not call the interference on Jackson, but can call Jackson for interference? How does Fyten get called for roughing in the 3rd when he was battling for the puck and had his face rubbed down?
ReplyDeleteYou repeated commented on how the boys created the same problems for themselves as they did Friday night. Yes the boys did take some bad penalties, but how many do we have to take and let the other team ride for free?
Fred insinuated in the post game show that the shots on goal indicated a lack of pressure by the Canes, but Kabbie disgreed. When you are defending 5 on 3 for 2 mins and doing major penalty killing in an entire period, of course the opposing team shots on goal are going to be far ahead.
By the sounds of our very own color commentater of the game --- the Canes deserved what they got and felt that the reffing was not unrealistic until, UNTIL, UNTIL the fans started being very vocal and then the attitudes changed. At least you were able to jump on the band wagon and call the rest of the reffing the way it was --- a sad spectacle.
I think the fans showed a great deal of passion for their home team last night. Friday night there was no effort and I would be first to say how poorly they played and Prince Albert deserved the win. But Saturday they played a full game and even if they lost, they didn't deserve to have the game decided by the referees. They played a pretty solid 60 mins and against Saskatoon, faired well considering the blocks thrown at them. Five on 3 for nearly 2 mins against Toontown?? I think pretty good and yet not much recognition from our media calling the game.
And announcers, you usually do a pretty good job, but last night you were also on the Cane's case. I give full kudos to the team and, sorry Pat and Fred, you came up short in my eyes.
I was at the game.Listened on my radio during the game and the post game show on the way home and thought Fred and Pat had it right.We're all not going to agree with everything that every play by play or colour guy says.You want homers?Go listen somewhere else.Kabayama is a weak interview almost every night I feel sorry for Fred and Pat to have to talk to him.They'd be better with a trainer.I think he's part of the problem here, not a great coach.Good job Pat and Fred.I enjoy your work as does everyone else I talk to.Look forward to tonights show.
ReplyDeleteThe Hurricanes were awful both nights this weekend!!!!!! Embarrassing!!! Undisciplined, awful defensively!! Radio calls were good. Keep up the great work fellas!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad Rich showed some emotion poor effort against PA and they were somewhat better against the blades. We still need some scoring . other teams seem to be filling the holes they need..hopefully Rich can make a deal
ReplyDeleteK.T.
I am not looking for 'homer' announcers. As I said they usually do a good job, however on Saturday I thought they came up short. There was clearly an issue with the refereeing. Knorr is a Linesman not a ref and Montsior has only been brought up to a ref this year. I am not one to kick the refs, as they can't please everyone at everytime, but they decided a game that was being a very competitive and entertaining game
ReplyDeleteI thought you guys had a good broadcast Pat and Fred Saturday night. Thanks for trying your best. We (the fans) and true listeners appreciate it!
ReplyDelete