Saskatoon, Sask – The Saskatoon Blades scored 3 thrid period powerplay goals in a 5-2 win over the Kootenay ICE in WHL action on Saturday night.
The Blades (19-14-0-1) opened the scoring while shorthanded as Nathan Burns stole the puck behind the ICE and fed defenseman Darren Dietz sneaking in from the bluline and he scored with a wrist shot high on the stick side.
It’s the 3rd shorthanded goal given up by the ICEand the 2nd against Saskatoon.
18 seconds later the ICE (10-21-1-0) tied the game with Jeff Hubic feeding Luke Philp as pass in the slot and he scored with a wrist shot through the goalies legs.
55 seconds later the Blades took a 2-1 lead with Matej Stansky receiving a back door pass and had an open net to extend his goal streak to 7 games.
In the third period the Blades were awarded 4 straight powerplay and scored on 3 of them to win the game.
Saskatoon made it 3-1 on the powerplay with Stransky getting his 2nd of the game from the high slot.
It’s the 19th time a player has had a multi-goal game against the ICE and the 3rd time a Blade has done it.
ICE got back within a goal with Zach McPhee ending a 10 game goaless streak.
Blades scored another powerplay goal with Mathew Pufahl open in the slot and then Nathan Burn was near the crease for a redirection.
The ICE will visit Swift Current on Sunday.
Because of injuries the ICE were one skater short of a complete line-up.
The ICE had no 20-year-olds and only 3 19-year-olds in the line-up.
ICE Scratches – Tanner Muth (5th game upper body 1-2 weeks), Brock Montgomery (4th game upper body 1-2 weeks), Joey Leach (6th game upper body 1-3 weeks).
Game Summary
Saskatoon 19-14-0-1 Kootenay 10-21-1-0
1st Period-
1, Saskatoon, Dietz 9 (Burns), 8:38 (SH).
2, Kootenay, Philp 9 (Hubic, Dirk), 8:56.
3, Saskatoon, Stransky 20 (Gwinner), 9:51.
Penalties-McColgan Sas (hooking), 6:43; served by Martin Ktn (too many men), 13:14.
2nd Period-
No Scoring.
Penalties-Sutter Sas (high sticking), 2:50; Reinhart Ktn (roughing), 6:47; Siemens Sas (roughing, roughing), 6:47; Sutter Sas (checking from behind), 9:11; Descheneau Ktn (tripping), 13:08; Dirk Ktn (roughing), 20:00.
3rd Period-
4, Saskatoon, Stransky 21 (Burns, Nicholls), 1:25 (PP).
5, Kootenay, McPhee 5 (Dirk, O'Connor), 3:53.
6, Saskatoon, Pufahl 3 (McColgan, Dietz), 4:17 (PP).
7, Saskatoon, Burns 11 (McColgan, Nicholls), 13:33 (PP).
Penalties-O'Connor Ktn (instigator, major-fighting, game misconduct), 4:04; Revel Sas (major-fighting), 4:04; Hubic Ktn (hooking), 11:21; Faith Ktn (checking from behind), 11:55; Dirk Ktn (checking from behind, major-fighting), 15:41; Thrower Sas (instigator, major-fighting, game misconduct), 15:41; Faith Ktn (10-minute misconduct), 16:43; Siemens Sas (10-minute misconduct), 16:43.
Shots on Goal-Kootenay 7-11-9-27. Saskatoon 13-12-16-41.
Power Play Opportunities-Kootenay 0 / 4; Saskatoon 3 / 6.
Goalies-Kootenay, Skapski 10-14-0-0 (41 shots-36 saves). Saskatoon, Moodie 4-1-0-0 (27 shots-25 saves).
A-5,576
Referees-Jonathan Spurgeon (7), Jon Stephenson (38).
Linesmen-Adam Bloski (43), Brent Tournier (113).