Blades’ Sidorov finds post-season groove

Saskatoon take 3-2 lead on Pats in thriller WHL series

The Blades celebrate Egor Sidorov’s second goal on Friday.

Egor Sidorov has found his post-season swagger and groove, and the rest of the Saskatoon Blades have too.

On Friday night, the star import right-winger buried a pair of goals to power his Blades past 17-year-old phenom centre Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats 4-2 to the delight of most of the 12,098 spectators at the SaskTel Centre. The win allowed the Blades to claim Game 5 of the best-of-seven WHL first round playoff series between the two clubs and a 3-2 lead in the set.

The Blades will attempt to close out what has been a series full of thrills in Game 6 on for Saturday set for 7 p.m. at the Brandt Centre in Regina. If the Pats prevail in Game 6, the two clubs return to Saskatoon to play a series deciding Game 7 on Monday at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

The SaskTel Centre faithful cheer on the Blades.

After the Pats took the first two games in series in Saskatoon, the Blades have fought back with three straight wins to take the series lead. The set has also featured three straight overtime games.

At the moment, it appears the turning point of the series came in Game 3 this past Tuesday in Regina. When Pats 17-year-old phenom centre Connor Bedard scored at the 9:39 mark of the third period to give the Regina side a 3-1 lead in front of a raucous sellout crowd of 6,499 spectators at the Brandt Centre, it seemed like the Pats were destined to sweep the series.

Just 53 seconds later, Sidorov scored his first of the post-season to spark the Blades comeback. Star left-winger Brandon Lisowsky netted the equalizer on the power play with 27.2 seconds remaining in the third, and Sidorov potted the winner at the 5:19 mark of overtime to give Saskatoon a 4-3 victory.

Egor Sidorov has five goals in the Blades last three games.

In Game 4 one night later in Regina, Sidorov had a goal and an assist to help the Blades rally from an early 3-1 deficit in the third to pull out another 4-3 overtime victory. Star right-winger Jake Chiasson scored the winner at the 7:20 mark of the extra session.

During the first two games of the series, Sidorov had one assist as the Blades were outscored 12-6 in those two losses. Since the third period of Game 3, the Blades have shown the perseverance they have had for most of the regular season.

The Blades entered the series as favourites having finished fourth overall in the WHL standings with a 48-15-4-1 record and were rated 10^th in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. The Pats finished sixth overall in the Eastern Conference with a 34-30-3-1 mark.

Vaughan Watterodt celebrates scoring the Blades first goal.

In Friday’s Game 5 clash, the Blades came storming out of the gate backed by a vocal crowd. Just 3:46 into the contest, Blades right-winger Vaughn Watterodt tucked home a rebound from a shot taken by linemate Lukas Hansen at the left side of the Regina net to open the game’s scoring.

Just 15 seconds later, Pats 20-year-old defenceman Luke Bateman was given a minor for boarding after he slammed Sidorov from behind into the boards. After a short rest, Sidorov took the second shift on the power play and one-timed home a shot from right slot to put the Blades up 2-0 at the 5:26 mark of the first.

Blades captain and star offensive-defenceman Aidan De La Gorgendiere gave Sidorov the beauty pass to one time. The Blades score their first two goals while recording the game’s first six shots on goal in the contest.

Tanner Molendyk had a pair of assists for the Blades.

Just when it seemed the momentum was going totally the Blades way, it shifted after the midway point of the first period, when the Pats went on the power play for the first time thanks to Bedard.

While working on the power play, Bedard one-timed a shot from the left slot that deflected off power forward Zack Stringer to cut the Blades lead to 2-1 at the 11:24 mark of the first. Pats star import offensive-defenceman Stanislav Svozil fed Bedard with a pass on the Pats power-play goal.

Before the first came to a close, the Blades had a glorious chance to restore their two-goal edge. Star left-winger Brandon Lisowsky had the puck near the right side of the Regina goal. While he was at a bad angle, Lisowsky wired a shot off the post.

Connor Bedard had a goal and an assist for the Pats.

At the 6:25 mark of the second, Blades star offensive-defenceman Tanner Molendyk, who turned 18-years-old in February, thought he has scored for the Blades. The officials immediately waved off the tally ruling Lisowsky had inadvertent contact with Pats netminder Drew Sim causing the tally to be called off.

That development didn’t deter the Blades. With 4:08 remaining in the second, the Blades pushed their edge out to 3-1, when star right-winger Conner Roulette tipped home a midrange shot from Molendyk.

As the second period came to a close, Blades netminder Ethan Chadwick kept the Pats at bay. He stoned Stringer in close, robbed Svozil with a glove save and turned away Riley Ginnell during a net scramble.

Conner Roulette had the winning goal for the Blades on Friday.

Despite falling behind by two goals being unable to close ground at the end of the second period, the Pats didn’t go away. At the 3:09 mark of the third, Pats import right-winger Alexander Suzdalev came down the right wing and circled behind the Blades net and fed a pass to Bedard, who was positioned at the doorstep to the left of the Saskatoon goal. Bedard made no mistake burying the puck into the Saskatoon net to cut the Blades lead to 3-2.

The tally was Bedard’s ninth goal of the post season to go along with six assists and a plus-eight rating in the plus-minus department. Bedard has been in on 15 of the 20 goals the Pats have scored in the series.

Ethan Chadwick makes a glove save for the Blades.

Like Games 3 and 4, the Blades weren’t going to allow the heroics of Bedard to keep them from pulling out victory.

Just past the midway point of the third, the Blades got another insurance goal to push their lead to 4-2. 

Sidorov entered the Regina zone on a rush down the right wing, and he passed the puck to star Blades centre Trevor Wong. Wong passed the puck back to Sidorov who blew home his second of the contest to give the Blades a two-goal edge.

Wong finished the contest with two assists and a plus-three rating, while De La Gorgendiere and Molendyk each had two assists and a plus-one rating.

The Pats and Blades scrum it up at the end of the third period.

Chadwick stopped 20 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades. Sim turned away 29 shots to take the setback in net for the Pats.

Friday’s contest ended with a big scrum after the third period clock expired with Bedard getting in on the extra-curricular activities. Watterodt showed he was all fired up and ready for a serious bout, but he was pulled away by a referee and then held away from trouble by Sidorov, who helped calm his teammate down.

While this series has had many twists and turns, the Blades have found their post-season stride, and they will be heading into Regina confident on Saturday that they can finish the series off.

The Blades celebrate their win on Friday.

With that said, it is still possible Bedard and the Pats will work more magic causing a climax to happen in Game 7.

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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