Blades win away from history, force Game 7 on Tuesday

Rivalry with Rebels cemented as real, series tied 3-3

The Blades erased a 3-0 series deficit to force a Game 7 with the Rebels.

No one could have ever imagined how fitting it would be when the Saskatoon Blades chose Elton John’s “I’m Still Standing” as their victory song.

While they weren’t on home ice to hear it on Sunday, the Blades have the chance to potentially make the playing of that tune the most meaningful it has ever been.

On Sunday afternoon, the Blades were in Red Deer and were facing elimination from their best-of-seven WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series for the third straight outing. Playing before 5,067 spectators at the Peavey Mart Centrium, Blades import right-winger Egor Sidorov made the first big play that set the tone for a post-season contest that seemingly had everything.

Just 34 seconds into Game 6 of the series, Sidorov stole the puck at the left side boards in the Red Deer zone from Rebels star 20-year-old right-winger Ben King. Sidorov wheeled behind the Red Deer goal with King in pursuit and scored on a one-handed wraparound to give the visitors a 1-0 lead on their first shot of the game.

The Blades pushed their lead out to 2-0 by the end of the first and built a 4-1 advantage in the second before the Rebels closed to within 4-2 going into the second intermission. Red Deer further cut the Saskatoon lead to 4-3 in the third, but Blades hard-working centre Jayden Wiens sealed a 5-3 victory with an empty-net goal with 1:52 remaining in the third.

With the Game 6 victory, the Blades have won three straight in the series to tie the set up at 3-3. In the process, they force a series deciding Game 7 to be played on Tuesday at 7 p.m. back on their home stomping grounds in the SaskTel Centre.

Egor Sidorov scored 34 seconds into Game 6 on Sunday.

The Blades are trying to become just the third team in WHL history to come back and win a best-of-seven series 4-3 after losing the first three games of the set.

Dating back to the WHL’s start in 1966-67, only two teams have rallied back to win a best-of-seven series having trailed the set 3-0. The Spokane Chiefs, who were guided by Mike Babcock as head coach, trailed the Portland Winterhawks 3-0 before rallying to take a first round series 4-3 in 1996. The Kelowna Rockets fell behind the Seattle Thunderbirds 3-0 in 2013 before rallying back to claim that first round series 4-3.

The Blades have also rallied back from being down 3-0 in a best-of-seven series to tie it up at 3-3 for the second time in team history.

Back in 1990, Saskatoon trailed the Lethbridge Hurricanes 3-0 in a second round series in that year’s WHL Playoffs before rallying back to tie the set at 3-3. In a series deciding Game 7 in Lethbridge, the Blades fell 4-3 in overtime with defenceman Neil Hawryluk netting the winning goal for the Hurricanes. Of course, the current edition of the Blades will try to one up their club from the 1990 post-season by getting a Game 7 win.

Actually, the Blades were actually 20 minutes away from being eliminated in their series with the Rebels as they trailed Red Deer 2-1 after two periods in Game 4 at the Peavey Mart Centrium before rallying for a 4-2 victory in that contest to start the three game winning streak.

Going back to their first round seven game series win over Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats, the Blades have won four straight contests in this WHL post-season where they have faced elimination.

Austin Elliott made 35 saves in goal for the Blades on Sunday.

Sunday’s Game 6 win in Red Deer did not come easy. Over the course of the series, the Blades and Rebels have developed a real rivalry where the players on the two teams have shown a real dislike for each other resulting in the series having a snarl to it.

After Sidorov opened the Game’s scoring, the Rebels came with a huge push back and held a 12-2 edge in shots on goal at one point in the opening frame. The Rebels had the Blades pinned in their own zone and the outstanding play of Saskatoon netminder Austin Elliott kept the host side off the scoreboard during that wave of momentum.

Just when it seemed the Rebels were rolling, the Blades broke through for their second tally of the contest. With 3:36 remaining in the first, Blades star left-winger Brandon Lisowsky got in close to the left side of the Red Deer goal and fired a shot off the left post.

The puck rebounded to the right side of the Red Deer net to Blades star centre Trevor Wong, who put a backhand shot into an open cage to give the Blades their 2-0 advantage. Wong’s goal came on the Blades third shot on goal of the contest.

The opening frame came to a close with the Blades holding a 2-0 lead and the Rebels holding a 16-6 edge in shots on goal.

Red Deer kept pushing at the start of the second and the hosts were finally rewarded for their efforts with a goal. At the 5:09 mark of the second, Rebels left-winger Jace Isley banged home a puck from the front of the Saskatoon net to cut the Blades lead to 2-1.

Jace Isley scored twice for the Rebels on Sunday.

A short time later, the Blades restored their two-goal edge scoring on the power play thanks to a Red Deer gaff. Rebels captain Jayden Grubbe had the puck in his own zone and tried to make a pass up the centre of the ice though the Red Deer blue-line.

Wong picked off the pass just inside the Red Deer zone to create a three on the goalie break for the Blades. The skilled centre and Lisowsky got the puck over to Sidorov on the right side of the Red Deer net on a tick-tack-toe passing play, and high-scoring winger popped home his second of the contest to give the Blades a 3-1 lead.

Rebels netminder Chase Coward, who was making his first start in the post-season, had absolutely no chance to make a stop on the play.

With 2:23 remaining in the second, the Blades would score off another Rebels turnover. Rebels defenceman Mats Lindgren had the puck in the deep left corner of his own zone and tried to clear it high to centre ice.

Blades utility player Spencer Shugrue knocked down the clearing attempt and took the puck over to the right side of the Rebels net. He passed the puck across the front of the net to Blades star left-winger Jake Chiasson, who buried his fourth of the post-season to give the Blades a 4-1 advantage.

Before the second ended, the Rebels got some traction. Rebels star centre Kai Uchacz drove into the Saskatoon zone on a rush, made a toe drag move and fired home a laser shot from mid range from the front of the Saskatoon goal to cut the Blades lead to 4-2.

Kai Uchacz had a goal for the Rebels on Sunday.

With 7:47 remaining in the third, the determination of Isley paid off again for the Rebels. Isley got a loose puck low in the right corner of the Saskatoon zone and snapped home a shot from the lower part of the right faceoff circle for his second tally of the contest to cut the Blades lead to 4-3.

Red Deer’s rally would be cut short by another turnover. Shortly after pulling Coward for an extra attacker, Grubbe was rushing through the centre ice zone with the puck and he gave it away to Wiens on an attempted short pass.

Wiens popped home an empty-net goal just before the Red Deer blue-line with 1:52 remaining in the third to round out the 5-3 victory.

Any thought of a comeback was further erased when King was given a goaltender interference minor with 74 seconds remaining in the third to put the Blades on the power play.

Frustrations and the personal rivalries boiled over as there were two scrums in the final minute of the third and a third stoppage for an undisciplined Rebels penalty.

The first scrum with 47.7 seconds remaining in the third was the main event of the extra-curricular activities of the final minute of the frame. Out of that scrum, a fight broke out between Isley and Blades right-winger Lukas Hansen. Both players were giving cross-checking minors and fighting majors.

Jayden Grubbe had a tough outing for the Rebels on Sunday.

Out of that scrum, Rebels left-winger Rhett Larson was locked up with Blades centre Jordan Keller. Larson was given a minor for instigating, a fighting major, a game second fight misconduct and a game misconduct.

Keller stayed in the game and took a slashing minor as part of the second scrum with 23.8 seconds remaining in the third.

Ultimately, it took about 12 minutes of real time to complete the final minute of the third. The WHL office will likely look at the shenanigans of the final minute for further possible discipline.

Elliott stopped 35 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades. Coward turned away 18-of-22 shots to take the setback in net for the Rebels.

The WHL discipline department had been busy with activities from the previous two games in this series.

On Sunday, the Blades were without gritty right-winger Justin Lies, who was sitting out the second of a three-game WHL imposed suspension for a head hit he threw on Rebels star left-winger Kalan Lind in the Blades 4-2 win in Game 4 on Wednesday. Lind has been out with a head injury since that hit.

The Rebels were without import right-winger Frantisek Formanek due to a one-game suspension under supplemental discipline by the WHL. In Game 5, Formanek was giving a boarding minor penalty at the 7:21 mark of the first period in the Blades 6-3 victory in that contest.

Trevor Wong had a goal and an assist for the Blades on Sunday.

Formanek hit Blades 20-year-old defenceman Blake Gustafson from behind, and Gustafson was able to prevent himself from making a hard crash into the boards. The Blades sent in video to the WHL office asking for supplemental discipline as this was a dangerous play.

Gustafson missed Game 6 with an upper body injury. Blades right-winger Misha Volotovsky was also out with an upper body injury and hasn’t played since Game 1 of this series.

Originally, it was expected that this would be a tight series going in between the Blades and Rebels. The Blades finished fourth in the overall WHL regular season standings with a 48-15-4-1 record and were rated 10^th in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. 

The Rebels finished fifth in the overall WHL standings and topped the Central Division with a 43-19-3-3 mark.

When the two sides meet in Game 7 on Tuesday in Saskatoon, the Blades will be trying to advance to the Eastern Conference Championship series for the first time since 1994, and the Rebels are looking to get back to the Eastern Conference title set for the first time since 2016.

Jayden Wiens and the Blades host Game 7 on Tuesday.

The Blades will do everything they can to allow their home ice music man to play “I’m Still Standing” at game’s end, while the Rebels will try to negate that tradition playing the role of spoiler.

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