Blades power play and penalty kill are just oh so good

Special teams units pace Saskatoon to 5-1 victory

The scene after Charlie Wright (#47) scores on a power play.

Brennan Sonne and the Saskatoon Blades coaching staff have been rewarded on the power play and penalty kill by showing faith in their players.

That approach has allowed the Blades to have two of the best special teams units in the WHL. On Saturday night at the SaskTel Centre, the Blades seemingly had the upper hand going up a man or down a man against the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes.

The Blades finished 2-for-6 on the power play and were successful on the three penalty kills the faced skating to a sound 5-1 regular season victory before 3,615 spectators. On the season, the Blades have gone 69-for-241 on the power play for a 28.6 per cent success rate that is good for second in the WHL, and they’ve gone 188-for-226 on the penalty kill for an 83.2 per cent success rate.

Charlie Wright (#47) fires home a power-play goal for the Blades.

“It is the players,” said Sonne, who is the Blades second year head coach. “You can say whatever you want about coaching or whatever.

“We have good players that execute what we give them.”

Sonne said the Blades preparation work for the power play and penalty kill actually isn’t done that much on the ice but more in a classroom type setting.

“We don’t really practise it that much honestly,” said Sonne. “We haven’t practiced the penalty kill except once this year.

“It is all done in video. Power play, we’ll practice maybe once every couple of weeks, but that is mostly done in video as well.”

Charlie Wright scored his first power-goal of the season on Saturday.

The Blades slick power play got going at the 6:20 mark of the opening frame to open the game’s scoring. On that opportunity with the man advantage, the Blades players gave a look that hadn’t been seen yet this season.

Blades star left-winger Jake Chiasson had the puck at the left side of the Lethbridge goal and passed the puck across the face of the net to 19-year-old defenceman Charlie Wright, who had pinched down from the point to the right side doorstep of the net.

Wright, who is more known as a defensive-defenceman, got the puck and promptly fired home a power-play marker past a sprawling Hurricanes 20-year-old netminder Bryan Thomson. The tally was the sixth of the season for Wright and his first that came on the power play.

Jayden Wiens scored on the power play for the Blades on Saturday.

At the 3:23 mark of the second, the Blades pushed their advantage out to 2-0, when Chiasson put home a backhand shot from the front of the Lethbridge goal for his 19^th tally of the season.

The Blades power play struck again at the 9:49 mark of the second on a beauty tick-tack-toe passing play. Star left-winger Brandon Lisowsky and star import right-winger Egor Sidorov combined to get the puck to centre Jayden Wiens at the doorstep at the left side of the Lethbridge goal.

Wiens directed home his 10^th power-play tally of the season to put the Blades up 3-0.

Conner Roulette had a pair of assists for the Blades on Saturday.

Blades veteran star all-around defenceman and captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere, who turned 21-years-old in late February, is a regular on both the power play and penalty killing units. He said the Blades players pick up what their coaches are teaching in a prompt fashion, and that has made the club’s special teams units roll.

“I think our group in the dressing room learns pretty quickly,” said De La Gorgendiere, who has four power-play goals and 28 power-play assists this season. “I feel like our penalty kill has been excellent this year.

“Hopefully, we can keep that going. For our power play, I just feel like we have a lot of chemistry going on right now with Liso (Lisowsky) and me, Wonger (Trevor Wong) and Sido (Sidorov) and Wiener (Wiens) at the net front there. I think we know where each other are and our positions.

Egor Sidorov had a goal and an assist for the Blades on Saturday.

“It is working out right now.”

With 7:09 remaining in the second, Sidorov sniped home his 38th tally of the season from the front of the Lethbridge net to give the Blades a 4-0 advantage heading into the second period. De La Gorgendiere scored on a point shot at the 4:39 mark of the third to push the Blades lead out to 5-0.

Hurricanes rookie defenceman Tristen Doyle scored with 64 seconds remaining in the third to spoil the Blades bid to collect a shutout.

Ethan Chadwick picked up his 20th win of the season.

Ethan Chadwick stopped 19 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades, which was his 20th victory of the season. Thomson turned away 29 shots to take the setback in net for the Hurricanes.

Conner Roulette and Jordan Keller each had a pair of assists for the Blades.

In 2021-22, the Blades were ranked seventh on both the power play and penalty kill, which was Sonne’s first campaign with the team as head coach. The Blades went 68-for-283 on the power play for a 24.0 per cent success rate and went 179-for-223 on the penalty kill for an 80.3 per cent success rate.

Right-winger Vanghn Watterodt and centre Lukas Hansen had been the go-to pairing to play forward on the penalty kill for the Blades. Sonne said Watterodt and Hansen really take ownership in that part of the game and the rest of the players on the Saskatoon roster look forward to getting time on special teams.

Aidan De La Gorgendiere scored for the Blades on Saturday.

“(Vaughn) Watterodt and (Lukas) Hansen have the most penalty kill shifts for forwards, and it is role that they relish,” said Sonne. “As soon as we get a penalty, both of those guys are looking at me like, ‘Can we go? Can we block shots?’

“It is the same with the power play. (Egor) Sidorov is probably going to have to wear a neck brace at some point, because every time we get a power play he is looking at me. We have good players.

“We have dedicated players that are coachable and they execute what they need to.”

De La Gorgendiere said the Blades players love the faith the coaches show in them, and he believe the players prove that faith is well deserved.

Jake Chiasson had a goal and an assist for the Blades on Saturday.

“I think it shows a good sign of a good hockey team and a team that is coachable as well,” said De La Gorgendiere. “Our team is really tight.

“We help each other out if people don’t understand systems or what not. I think we figure it out, and we get the job done.”

Sidorov leads the Blades with 15 power-play goals, while Lisowsky sits second on the team with 12 power-play tallies. Chiasson is sitting with eight power-play goals, and he could join Sidorov, Lisowsky and Wiens as the fourth player on the club with 10-or-more power-play goals.

Trevor Wong leads the Blades with 29 power-play assists.

Wong tops the Blades in power-play assists with 29.

On the statistical front, Sonne said he went to a coach’s conference about 10 years ago and remembers long time NHL head coach Ken Hitchcock talking about how he targeted his team’s power play and penalty kill percentages to add up to 105. The Blades try to shoot for that combined number.

Last season, the Blades special teams percentages added up to 104.3, and this year they currently sit at 111.8.

“At the same time, we dig deeper than that,” said Sonne. “We’re digging into scoring chances per penalty kill that we’re allowing, scoring chances per power play that we’re creating.

Jordan Keller had a pair of assists for the Blades.

“If you are not giving up a lot chance wise on your penalty kill, your percentage by the end of the year will be good. Vice versa with the power play, if you are creating a good amount of chances per power play you’re your power play percentage will be really good.”

The Blades work on special teams has allowed them to win their last four straight and gain standing points in nine straight contests off eight wins and one overtime time setback. That has allowed the Blades to vault to third in the WHL’s overall standings with a 41-13-4-1 record.

The Hurricanes fell to 32-22-3-3 to sit fifth overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference.

Brandon Lisowsky dishes off a pass for the Blades.

The Blades get back on it Sunday when they travel to Regina to take on Connor Bedard and the Pats (4 p.m., Brandt Centre). 

That contest concludes a stretch were both teams will have played three games in three nights.

The Hurricanes return to action on Wednesday when they travel to Red Deer to take on the Rebels (7 p.m. local time, Peavey Mart Centrium).

While the Blades will be looking to have another stellar outing on special teams against the Pats, Sonne said it has been big his club has been able to roll all four forward line and all three defensive pairs the past two games with having to play three games in three nights. 

Tanner Molendyk dives to break up a pass for the Blades.

He believes that will benefit his club against the Pats.

“It is really important specifically with our schedule,” said Sonne. “At the same time when you’re healthy for our group, we are really deep too.

“We have lines that we trust. We trust all four lines too. When you have that, it is an asset, because you don’t wear guys out.

“You don’t over tax guys. Everyone has a roll. Everyone feels they are a part of it, which is really important for us.”

The Blades celebrate their win on Saturday.

NOTES – The Blades wore special PAW Patrol jerseys on Saturday as part of the team’s Nickelodeon Night as part of a WHL promotion to raise funds for Children’s Miracle Network. The funds raised go to support children’s hospitals in Western Canada and the special Nickelodeon jerseys are auctioned off online. The jersey auction ends on Sunday, March 12 at 12 p.m. and those looking to take part in the online action can do so by clicking right here.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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