Blades pound Pats 6-1, continue to top WHL standings

The Blades celebrate a goal from Tanner Molendyk (#24).

The Saskatoon Blades gave a glimpse of the potential they have.

On Sunday before 4,955 spectators at the SaskTel Centre, they romped past their traditional big city rivals the Regina Pats 6-1. The win was the third in a row for the Blades, and they have now earned standings points in each of their past 18 games posting 14 wins, two overtime losses and two shootout losses over that stretch.

The Blades are one game away from equalling the franchise record for the longest standings point streak. The club’s last regulation loss came back on November 22, 2023 with a 6-2 setback against the Silvertips in Everett.

Saskatoon collected standings points in 19 straight contests back in the 2012-13 campaign with an 18-game winning streak and an overtime loss in a season where the Blades hosted the CHL championship tournament – the Memorial Cup.

Blades RW Egor Sidorov (#19) cuts in on the Pats net.

With Sunday’s win, the Blades improved to 29-8-2-2 and continue to lead the WHL’s overall standings. They sit three standings points ahead of the 29-12-0-1 Prince George Cougars.

The Blades, who are rated second in the CHL’s Top 10 Rankings, are still experimenting with line combinations and defensive pairs after cementing their roster at the WHL trade deadline that passed last Wednesday,

In Sunday’s victory over the Pats, the Blades opened the scoring at the 2:13 mark of the first on a vintage power-play goal from star import right-winger Egor Sidorov. Positioned at the right side of the Regina net, Sidorov, who was playing in his 150^th career WHL regular season game, one-timed home a setup pass from Blades captain Trevor Wong to give the hosts a 1-0 lead.

Brandon Lisowsky had a goal and an assist for the Blades.

The Blades weren’t able to increase their advantage heading into the first intermission despite holding a 15-7 edge in shots on goal.

Just 18 seconds into the second, the Blades pushed their advantage out to 2-0. Blades star right-winger Brandon Lisowsky took the puck away from a Pats defender behind the Regina net on the forecheck and passed the puck from the right corner to the top of the right faceoff circle to linemate Easton Armstrong.

Armstrong blew home his 22^nd tally of the season to give the Blades their two-goal edge.

At the 3:10 mark of the second, Blades star netminder Austin Elliott misplayed  the puck behind his own net, which caused the puck to go bouncing all over the place. During the scramble, the puck came out in front of the Blades net, and Pats 17-year-old rookie defenceman Kolten Bridgeman popped home the loose disk for his first career WHL goal to cut the Blades lead to 2-1.

Easton Armstrong scored for the Blades on Sunday.

Just 82 seconds later, the Blades restored their two-goal edge. After star centre Fraser Minten took the puck away from a Pats player at the right side boards in the Regina zone, he passed the puck across the front of the Regina net to Lisowsky. Lisowsky, who was playing in his 200^th career WHL regular season contest, snapped home is 23^rd goal of the season from the left side of the Regina net to give the Blades a 3-1 lead.

The Blades struck again at the 11:09 mark of the second thanks to a benefit of a positive SaskTel Centre bounce. Blades star offensive-defenceman Tanner Molendyk fired a shot from the right point that missed the net.

Kolten Bridgeman scored his first career WHL goal on Sunday.

The puck deflected off the boards behind the Regina net right to Blades centre Misha Volotovskii, who was positioned by the left side of the Pats net. Volotovskii popped home his fifth goal of the season off Pats defenceman Tyson Buczkowski to increase the Blades lead to 4-1.

In the third, Blades 19-year-old left-winger Rhett Melnyk tipped home a point shot from rearguard Ben Saunderson at the 4:11 mark of the frame. Just 2:01 later, Molendyk wired home a shot from the right point to round out the 6-1 final in favour of the host side. He finished the night recording three points off his goal and two assists.

Rhett Melnyk scored for the Blades in the third period.

Austin Elliott stopped 19 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades. Ewan Huet turned away 32 shots to take the setback in net for the Pats (15-21-4-2).

Blades 17-year-old rookie netminder Evan Gardner was slated to start Sunday’s contest. He encountered a medical issue before the opening faceoff and was ruled out for the game. Gardner wasn’t on the Blades bench at any point in the win over the Pats.

The Pats return to action on Friday when they return home to host the Lethbridge Hurricanes (7 p.m., Brandt Centre).

The Blades get back at it on Wednesday, when they travel to Red Deer to take on the 22-13-1-4 Rebels (7 p.m. local time, Peavey Mart Centrium). That will be the first of four straight the Blades will now play on the road.

The Blades salute the crowd at the SaskTel Centre on Sunday.

They will continue to try and reach their potential and make the 2023-24 WHL campaign a special one for “The Bridge City.”

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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