Gardner gets Blades on even terms with Raiders

Goalie makes 31 saves to win first WHL post-season start

Blades G Evan Gardner (#35) stops Raiders C Brayden Dube.

Evan Gardner was as good as gold for the Saskatoon Blades.

On Friday night, the breakout rookie netminder made 31 saves in his first career post-season start to back his Blades to a 4-1 victory over their archrivals the Prince Albert Raiders in Game 2 of a best-of-seven series in the WHL Playoffs. With the win in a game played before 8,242 spectators at the SaskTel Centre, the Blades even the series 1-1.

The only time Gardner got beat was when Raiders veteran right-winger Niall Crocker scored on an abbreviated five-on-three power play with 46.1 seconds remaining in the third period. That tally rounded out the final score in favour of the host side.

Evan Gardner (#35) makes one of his 31 saves on Friday.

When the dust settled, Gardner was happy to pick up the win for his squad and shrugged off seeing the shutout bid end inside the final 50 seconds of the third period.

“It would have obviously been kind of cool, but that is not something I am looking for,” said Gardner, who turned 18-years-old in late January. “I’m looking more for the wins, because that is all that matters at this time of year.”

Gardner was tasked with helping the Blades get a big bounce back victory after dropping Game 1 of the series 4-3 on Thursday night at the SaskTel Centre. In that contest, Blades star starting netminder Austin Elliott stopped 16-of-20 shots fired his way, while Raiders star goalie Max Hildebrand turned away 41 shots to pick up the win.

Evan Gardner’s first WHL post-season start was a winning one.

The Blades entered the series having finished first overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 50-13-2-3 record. The Raiders came into the series capturing eighth place and the final playoff berth in the WHL’s Eastern Conference with a 31-32-2-3 mark. Prince Albert placed 14^th in the WHL’s overall standings.

Gardner had an outstanding rookie campaign appearing in 30 games posting a 21-5-2 record, a 1.91 goals against average, a .927 save percentage and four shutouts. He has the lowest goals against average in the WHL and the best save percentage on the circuit.

The Lake Country, B.C., product had been battling illness throughout the week, but he was ready to go when Friday’s Game 2 came around.

John Babcock scored the Blades first goal on Friday.

“I really didn’t look at it any different than any other start that I’ve had throughout the year,” said Gardner, who stands 6-foot-2 and weighs 174 pounds. “Obviously, the atmosphere in there was electric.

“That is kind of playoff hockey for you. I didn’t prepare any different for this game. I actually felt more calm than usual.”

It also helped the Blades got a quick start on the scoreboard.

Just 2:02 into the opening frame, Blades defensive- defenceman John Babcock placed a smart shot from the left point through a screen past Hildebrand to give the host side a 1-0 lead. The tally was the 19-year-old rearguard’s first career WHL post-season goal, and it came on the Blades second shot of the contest.

Fans at the SaskTel Centre cheer on the Blades on Friday.

The Raiders came with a big push back firing nine shots on Gardner. He made a number of big saves to keep the visitors off the scoreboard and thought the early barrage was also helpful.

“It was good,” said Gardner. “Obviously, I haven’t been on the ice a whole lot these past few days just being ill.

“I think it was best case scenario for me was getting lots of rubber early in the game. That is what I am there for, and I’m just going to stop everything they put towards me.”

After that flurry, the Blades almost increased their lead on a positive bounce play. Blades 17-year-old rookie winger William James dumped the puck into the Prince Albert zone and puck took a crazy bounce off the back boards straight out in front of the Raiders net.

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

Blades 18-year-old centre Misha Volotovskii tried to put the puck into an open net as Hildebrand was out of position due to the crazy bounce. Volotovskii put the puck off the post of the Prince Albert net.

A short time later, Hildebrand robbed Blades star import right-winger Egor Sidorov with a glove stop at the right side of the Prince Albert net.

Gardner proceeded to counter with a glove save on Raiders 19-year-old right-winger Niall Crocker.

Before the opening frame expired, Hildebrand swallowed up a shot from Sidorov on a Blades three-on-one chance.

Easton Armstrong had a goal and an assist for the Blades on Friday.

After 20 minutes, the Raiders held a 13-7 edge in shots on goal. Raiders head coach Jeff Truitt liked the effort his side put into Friday’s game and thought his squad was haunted by not being able to convert scoring chances around the Blades net.

“We didn’t finish off,” said Truitt. “We had some looks, but we didn’t finish.

“It was a hard game. It is playoffs. We knew they were going to respond after Game 1.

“Our push back was there being physical and generating some stuff. It doesn’t surprise me a little bit about the emotions. Both teams want this, and they’re going to work hard to get it.”

Niall Crocker (#24) and Charlie Wright engage in a stare down.

At the 3:15 mark of the second, the Blades pushed their edge out to 2-0 thanks to a power play goal from Sidorov. Blades captain Trevor Wong won a faceoff back to Sidorov on the point. Sidorov came down the right wing and roofed a backhander past Hildebrand to the top left corner of the Prince Albert goal to give the Blades their two goal edge.

The goal went to a video review because Blades overage star left-winger Easton Armstrong knocked Raiders player into Hildebrand on the play. The officials rightly ruled Sidorov’s goal went into the net before the contact with Hildebrand occurred.

Shortly after that tally, Sidorov rang the post on another Blades power play chance, which could have allowed the host side to seize further control of the contest.

Aiden Oiring (#19) and Lukas Hansen engage in a fight.

Near the end of that power-play opportunity, Hildebrand stoned Blades left-winger Tyler Parr on a redirection shot from the front of the Raiders net. Hildebrand later turned away Blades centre Lukas Hansen on a close in chance.

The Raiders proceeded to go on the power play with under five minutes to play in the second. On that opportunity, Gardner came up with a big stop on Raiders centre Brayden Dube when he cut across the front of the Saskatoon net for a shot opportunity.

Blades head coach Brennan Sonne was pleased with how Gardner played on Friday.

“I’m very proud of him,” said Sonne. “He has had a tough week.

The Blades celebrate a goal from Tyler Parr (#20).

“He was pretty sick earlier in the week, so he didn’t get practice time with team. For him to prepare just with some morning ice and with our goalie coach Jeff Harvey who does such a good job preparing these guys, I thought he did really, really well. When you miss practices and stuff like that, you’re not getting a tonne of touches with the puck.

“He did a great job considering the week he had.”

Right before the second frame ended, Raiders captain Eric Johnston leveled Sidorov with an open ice hit, which drew cheers from the Raiders fans in the crowd.

The Blades sealed victory scoring their second power-play goal at the 4:16 mark of the third. Sidorov one-timed a shot from the right wing that was deflected home by Armstrong in front of the Raiders net to the Blades up 3-0.

With 5:36 remaining in the third, Parr deflected in a shot from Blades star centre Fraser Minten for Saskatoon’s third power-play goal of the contest to push the Blades lead to 4-0. The Blades went 3-for-4 with the man advantage on Friday, while the Raiders were 1-for-5 on the power play.

The Raiders foil a scoring chance from Misha Volotovskii (#17).

Sidorov and Armstrong each had a goal and an assist in the win.

Hildebrand turned away 19 shots to take the setback in net for the Raiders.

Babcock said it was big for the Blades to get a strong performance from Gardner in goal.

“He was solid, very solid tonight,” said Babcock. “It is good that you can trust him back there.”

The second and third periods of Friday’s contest did have some testy moments between the two sides. With 8:50 remaining in the third, Raiders center Aiden Oiring and Hansen went at it in a fight that ended with Hansen getting a takedown.

Sloan Stanick jets up ice for the Raiders.

The two squads now go on a three day break before the series shifts to Prince Albert. They resume their series on Tuesday, when Game 3 will be held at 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre.

Truitt was pleased his club was able to split the first two games of the series in Saskatoon. He believes the series will be an intense battle the rest of the way.

“Coming in here, it is a tough building to play in against a very good team,” said Truitt. “Getting Game 1 was great.

The Blades celebrate their win on Friday.

“It is far from what we want to accomplish here, and we know that we have a mountain to climb. They’re a powerful team – very explosive. We have to play a real good style and a disciplined style and a close checking style in order to win.”

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