Ice big line bashes Blades again

Saskatoon faces playoff elimination for sixth time

The Ice celebrate a goal from Zach Benson, centre.

The big line of the Winnipeg Ice floats like butterflies and stings like bees.

They have the Saskatoon Blades on the ropes in the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship Series. Now the question is can the Ice put the Blades down for the count?

The two teams that played the Blades in the WHL Playoffs before the Ice weren’t so lucky.

On Tuesday playing before 6,058 spectators at the SaskTel Centre, the Ice froze the Blades out of their home rink 5-1 holding a 34-18 edge in shots on goal. With the win, the Ice lead the best-of-seven Eastern Conference final 3-0. They can close things out in Game 4 on Wednesday set for 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

Ice C Matthew Savoie (#93) shields the puck from Blades C Trevor Wong.

Winnipeg benefited once again from a strong performance from its top line consisting of centre Matthew Savoie, left-winger Zach Benson and right-winger Connor McClennon. They combined for three goals and four assists in the win. The line of Savoie, Benson and McClennon accounted for three of the first four goals scored by Winnipeg.

“I played with them a little bit last year and quite a bit this year,” said Savoie, who had a goal and two assists on Tuesday. “We’ve built a tonne of chemistry off the ice, and I think it just translates to on the ice.

Zach Benson had a goal and an assist for the Ice on Tuesday.

“We’re all so close. I think we just feed off the energy we bring. It is a lot of fun playing with those two for sure.”

Benson and McClennon each had a goal and an assist in Tuesday’s win.

The trio followed up on an impressive performance in Game 2 of the series this past Saturday in Winnipeg at the Wayne Fleming Arena, which the Ice claimed 6-2. In that contest, Savoie, Benson and McClennon combined for five goals and five assists in that victory.

With the loss, Saskatoon will face elimination from the WHL Playoffs for a sixth time. The current roster of the Blades has shown that it can be gutsy winning their five previous elimination games.

Connor McClennon had a goal and an assist for the Ice on Tuesday.

“We’ve had a lot of biggest games of the year this year,” said Blades gritty right-winger Justin Lies. “The mindset is just go out and work hard and fight to keep this together, just fight for another day and another road trip with the boys.

“No one is quitting in there, so we’re just going to go work our hardest. We’ll be ready to go tomorrow.”

The Blades went to a series deciding Game 7 against Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats in the first round of the WHL Playoffs. Saskatoon took that contest by a 4-1 score at the SaskTel Centre before a sellout crowd of 14,768.

Justin Lies scored the Blades lone goal on Tuesday.

The Blades found themselves in a tougher spot in their Eastern Conference semifinal series with the Red Deer Rebels. The Blades trailed that series 3-0, and in Game 4 in Red Deer, they trailed 2-0 after the first period and 2-1 after the second frame. Saskatoon was 20 minutes away from having its season come to an end.

The Blades rallied to take Game 4 by a 4-2 score and ultimately came back to claim a series deciding Game 7 by a 5-2 score again at the SaskTel Centre this time before 9,489 spectators. Saskatoon joined the 1996 Spokane Chiefs and the 2013 Kelowna Rockets as the only teams to lose the first three games in a best-of-seven series and rally to take the set.

Ben Zloty had three assists for the Ice on Tuesday.

“For us, we still get to come to the rink tomorrow,” said Blades head coach Brennan Sonne. “We’re still together.

“The strength of our team is heart and no quit and how close they are. When you get in these situations, that becomes tested immensely. We’ve passed that test a few times.

“I don’t think it is any different tomorrow, because as long as you’re breathing, you are fighting. We’re still breathing, so we are going to keep fighting.”

As for Tuesday’s clash between Saskatoon and Winnipeg, the Ice got rocking early scoring on the power play at the 2:46 mark of the opening frame to account for the first goal of the contest. McClennon had the puck at the left side boards in the Saskatoon zone and took a shot that deflected off Blades offensive-defenceman Tanner Molendyk right to Savoie in front of the goal. Savoie fired the puck home for his 11^th tally of the post-season to give the visitors a 1-0 edge.

Owen Pederson had a goal and an assist for the Ice on Tuesday.

Just over seven minutes later, the Ice’s top line struck again thanks to a positive bounce. Savoie was trying to pass the puck to the front of the Saskatoon net from the right corner of the Saskatoon zone.

Savoie’s pass deflected off Molendyk’s stick high in the air and landed perfectly for Benson to attempt a midrange shot from the front of the Saskatoon net. Benson drove home a shot between the legs of Blades netminder Ethan Chadwick to give the visitors a 2-0 advantage.

Just 45 seconds later, the Ice pushed their edge out to 3-0 with a goal from one of their other standout lines. Ice centre Zack Ostapchuk had the puck at the left side of the Saskatoon net and made a spinning backhand pass to centre the puck to linemate Evan Friesen.

Vladislav Shilo (#15) weaves his way past two Blades players.

Friesen wired home a midrange shot through a maze of bodies to give the visitors their three-goal edge. Winnipeg exited the opening frame with that 3-0 advantage holding a 12-5 edge in shots on goal.

“It was a bit of a different game,” said Ice head coach James Patrick. “I thought we had an outstanding first period and we just rode that to the win.

“Obviously, our power play is really clicking. I just thought we had a couple of really good shifts down low. The Ostapchuk line has been pretty effective.

“They’ve been our most effective line in the offensive zone.”

Just 73 seconds into the second period, the Ice’s top line scored for the second time on the power play. Savoie had the puck for a potential midrange shot from the front of the Saskatoon net.

Evan Friesen had a goal for the Ice on Tuesday.

He passed the puck to Benson on the right wing. Benson fed a pass across the face of the Saskatoon net to McClennon at the left side of the goal, and McClennon promptly buried his 11^th of the playoffs. Patrick was pleased with what his top line was able to do with the man advantage.

“Obviously on the power play, I thought they were outstanding,” said Patrick. “Zach Benson missed some time for us, and I think it has taken him awhile to get up to speed.

“He is our best player this year, and he creates more scoring chances than any other player on our team. He is getting back to that form. The three of them, they all bring something different.

Blades RW Mikhail Volotovskii (#17) looks to get by an Ice defender.

“McClennon is a top end goal scorer. Savoie is as explosive a player there is. They have good chemistry.”

At the 5:40 mark of the second, the Blades showed some push back. Lies got a pass in the centre ice zone from star left-winger Brandon Lisowsky, drove into the Winnipeg zone and fired home a midrange shot to the top left corner of the Winnipeg net using star Ice defenceman Carson Lambos as a partial screen for star Ice netminder Daniel Hauser. Lies tally cut the Ice advantage to 4-1.

Blades G Ethan Chadwick (#33) reached to cover a loose puck.

“There were shifts in the second where we spent offensive zone time, got heavy, drew some penalties and got some momentum just going back to the no quit of our team,” said Sonne. “I’m encouraged that there is no quit.”

With 7:51 remaining in the second, Ice import left-winger Vladislav Shilo thought he put home a shot for the visitors, but the officials ruled no goal on the play. The officials went to a video review and ruled the puck did not cross the goal-line when it was under Chadwick.

During the second, it appeared Chadwick might have injured his right wrist at some point in the frame. He was pulled after the second period concluded having stopped 20-of-24 shots sent his way to take the setback in goal. Austin Elliott turned away 9-of-10 sent his way playing the third period in relief.

With 2:31 remaining in the third, the Blades pulled Elliott for an extra attacker. Unfortunately for the host side, hardworking centre Jayden Wiens took a roughing minor with 2:06 remaining in the frame, which meant the Blades had to put Elliott back in goal for the rest of the period.

Blades C Jayden Wiens (#9) skates the puck out of traffic.

The Ice rounded out the game’s 5-1 final as standout left-winger Owen Pederson, who turned 21-years-old in late March, scored on the power play with 33.5 seconds remaining in the frame. Pederson fired a shot on goal from the front of the Saskatoon net that Elliott got a piece of before the puck flipped through the air into the goal. Pederson had an assist earlier in the contest to finish with a two-point night.

Hauser turned stopped 17 shots to pick of the win in goal for the Ice, who have won six straight post-season games. Star offensive-defenceman Ben Zloty had three assists for the Ice.

Ice RW Connor McClennon (#94) puts a shot through the crease.

The Blades were without solid defensive-defencemen Blake Gustafson and Ben Saunderson once again as they were both injured in the team’s Eastern Conference semifinal series win over the Rebels. Saskatoon was also without star import right-winger Egor Sidorov with an undisclosed injury suffered in the club’s Game 2 loss to the Ice.

Due to the injury absences and the fact the Blades have played 17 post-season games in 33 days, fatigue is showing on the Saskatoon side. If everyone was healthy, this was expected to a competitive series on paper.

Zach Ostapchuk had a beauty assist for the Ice on Tuesday.

Winnipeg topped the WHL regular season standings with a 57-10-1 mark and was rated third in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. The 57 wins and 115 standings points are new franchise records for the Ice.

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. Saskatoon is appearing in the Eastern Conference final for the first time since 1994.

At the moment, the Blades have been outscored 14-3 in their three losses to open their series with the Ice.

The Ice were without 19-year-old defenceman Wyatt Wilson, who was injured in Game 5 of the team’s Eastern Conference semifinal series win over the Moose Jaw Warriors.

With all that noted, Patrick said his Ice are taking the approach that the Blades are down but not out. The Ice bench boss said you have to respect the battle that comes from the Saskatoon side.

Daniel Hauser, left, and Easton Armstrong celebrate the Ice win.

“What they’ve done the last two series I think the whole league has taken notice,” said Patrick. “We certainly have.

“We respect the hell out of them for what they accomplished being down 3-0 and the way they played coming back. They were a real resilient bunch, so I give them credit for that. I continually remind my team of that.”

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