“Rock you like a Hurricane,” Blades skid hits three games

The Hurricanes celebrate a goal from Brayden Edwards (#19).

Wiped out by the Wheat Kings, run over by the Rebels and hammered by the Hurricanes.

Just like that, the WHL leading Saskatoon Blades, who are rated second in the CHL Top 10 Rankings, look mortal in suffering their second three-game losing streak of the 2023-24 regular season. The skid began on February 23, when the Blades fell 4-1 to the Brandon Wheat Kings.

It continued this past Tuesday after the Blades were blanked 5-0 by the Red Deer Rebels. On Friday, the Blades dropped a 4-1 decision to the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

Every loss on this skid occurred on home ice for the Blades at the SaskTel Centre. Before the skid happened, the Blades had been riding an 11 game winning streak and were 23-1-1 in their home rink.

Brayden Edwards scored twice for the Hurricanes on Friday.

Likely the most concerning thing for the Blades during their current skid is the offence has dried up. While the Blades have been outscored 13-2 in their last three contests, they have outshot the opposition 104-63. Also during their last three games, “The Bridge City Bunch” has come up empty on nine power-play chances.

Their top offensive players in Brandon Lisowsky, Fraser Minten, Egor Sidorov, Easton Armstrong, Trevor Wong, Alexander Suzdalev and Tanner Molendyk are looking ordinary.

In Friday’s 4-1 loss to the Hurricanes before 6,212 spectators, the Blades held a 33-21 edge in shots on goal and failed to score on their two power-play opportunities. After falling behind on the scoreboard, it seemed like the Blades collective confidence around the Lethbridge net wasn’t there, and the confidence grew in the visiting Hurricanes the longer they held the lead.

Easton Armstrong had the Blades lone goal on Friday.

Friday’s clash marked the first time in the four head-to-head encounters between the two sides that the Hurricanes were able to claim victory.

In the latest meeting, the two teams skated through a scoreless first period where the Blades held a 10-6 edge in shots on goal. Early in the frame, Suzdalev was stopped in close on a backhand chance from the right side of the Lethbridge goal by Hurricanes netminder Brady Smith.

Later on in the opening frame, Smith kicked out a close in shot with his right pad from Blades right-winger Rowan Calvert, who was positioned in front of the Lethbridge net.

The Blades broke through on the scoreboard scoring on their first shot of the second period on a two-on-one break. Wong broke into the Lethbridge zone down the left wing and passed the puck across the front of the Hurricanes net to star overage left-winger Easton Armstrong.

Brady Smith made 32 saves in net for the Hurricanes on Friday.

Armstrong popped home his 28^th of the season from the right side of the goal to give the host side a 1-0 lead.

From that point, it seemed like the Blades got stuck in quicksand.

The Hurricanes evened the score at 1-1 with 8:28 remaining in the second on the 24^th goal of the season scored by breakout star 19-year-old centre Brayden Edwards. Positioned at the right side of the Saskatoon net, Edwards collected a rebound from a shot taken by linemate Logan Wormald and popped home the equalizer.

With 2:30 remaining in the second, Edwards potted his second of the contest to put the Hurricanes up 2-1. While working on the power play, Hurricanes star 17-year-old right-winger Miquel Marques passed the puck from the right faceoff circle across the Saskatoon goal to Edwards. Edwards potted the go-ahead goal past a sprawling star Blades netminder Austin Elliott.

Trevor Wong had an assist on the Blades lone goal on Friday.

Before the second period expired, the Blades had a glorious chance to get a traction moment. With 17.7 seconds remaining in the frame, Minten attempted to pass the puck from the left boards in the Lethbridge zone to Lisowsky in front of the Hurricanes net.

Minten’s pass deflected off the stick of backchecking veteran Hurricanes centre Hayden Pakkala and was sliding into an open side of the Lethbridge net. Smith reached out and secured the puck before it could cross the goal-line to preserve the lead for the visitors.

Noah Chadwick had a pair of assists for the Hurricanes.

The officials went to a video review that confirmed Smith did indeed make the save on that play.

At the 4:45 mark of the third, the Blades had another huge chance to even the score on a wraparound opportunity by Minten where Smith had fallen to the ice. When Minten came around to put the puck into an empty side of the Lethbridge goal, he was stopped by Hurricanes veteran defenceman Braeden Wynne.

Minten got the puck and attempted again to put it into the Lethbridge net, but Smith was able to bat the puck away from danger. At the next stoppage occurring at the 5:08 mark of the third, the officials’ video reviewed Minten’s wraparound and his second scoring opportunity on the same play and confirmed the puck did not enter the Lethbridge net.

Fraser Minten was snakebitten around the net on Friday.

The Hurricanes proceeded to kill off a Blades power-play opportunity and proceeded net a key insurance goal at the 8:02 mark of the frame. After the Hurricanes killed off the Blades power-play, Hurricanes 17-year-old centre Kash Andresen fed a stretch pass to Pakkala, who just skated out of the penalty box.

Andresen’s stretch pass sprung Pakkala on a breakaway. He tucked his 11^th of the season between Elliott’s legs to push the Hurricanes lead out to 3-1. Marques rounded out the game’s scoring and a personal two-point night with an empty-net goal with 3.5 seconds remaining in the third.

Elliott turned away 17-of-20 shots to take the setback in net for the Blades, who still top the WHL standings with a 42-12-2-3 mark. Smith stopped 32 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Hurricanes.

Miquel Marques had a goal and an assist for the Hurricanes.

Offensive-defenceman Noah Chadwick had a pair of assists for the visitors.

The Hurricanes, who have won two straight, improved to 27-26-5 to eighth place and the final playoff berth in the WHL’s Eastern Conference. They sit three standings points ahead of the Calgary Hitmen (24-26-7-1).

The Hurricanes return to action on Saturday when they travel to Prince Albert to face the 29-26-1-3 Raiders (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

The Blades also get back at it on Saturday when they travel to Brandon to take on the 29-24-5-1 Wheat Kings (7 p.m., Westoba Place).

At the moment, the Blades are facing their biggest moment of adversity in the 2023-24 campaign, but it is something they can get themselves out of. They have to keep up their persistence in the offensive zone, and they will eventually be rewarded with a surge of goals.

The Hurricanes celebrate their win on Friday.

While you never want to put extra pressure on the puck stoppers in the game, it would help the Blades if their netminders could make a critical stop when the Saskatoon side is up or even on the scoreboard to give the club’s top offensive players a chance to get out of their collective funk. Something like a 1-0 shutout victory would help the Blades get started back to an upward trend.

Overall, it is better for the Blades to work through a rough patch now as opposed to when the post-season starts. A slump in the playoffs will send even a team sitting first overall in the regular season standings like the Blades into the off-season wondering what might have been.

NOTES – The Blades played Friday’s game as the Saskatoon Berries for one night borrowing the name out of their baseball cousins the Saskatoon Berries. The Berries baseball team will embark on their expansion Western Canadian Baseball League campaign playing out of Cairns Field on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds.

The Blades wore specially designed Berries hockey jerseys. Player starting lineups were done by baseball positions, pucks clearing the glass were called “foul pucks,” and the first few goal announcements were done like they were home runs. The video scoreboard also showed various specially designed Berries graphics.

Barry the Black Bear made his debut on Friday.

During the first media timeout of the third period, a seventh inning stretch was held complete with the singing of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” 

Berries mascot Berry the Black Bear made his debut on Friday. The Blades and Berries are both owned by the Saskatoon Entertainment Group.

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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