Saskatoon hosts Games 3 and 4 of first round
series
On Sunday afternoon, the Oil Kings and the Blades were locked in a 3-3 tie in overtime in Game 2 of a best-of-seven first round series at the Rogers Place. The Blades claimed Game 1 of the series on Friday at Rogers Place 3-2, where they also had a 30-21 edge in shots on goal.
In the later stages of overtime on Sunday, the Oil Kings were working on a power play that was nearing an edge. At that point, MacKenzie, who is the Oil Kings star 19-year-old defenceman, one-timed home a shot low in the right faceoff circle of the Saskatoon zone past Blades star netminder Evan Gardner to give the host Oil Kings a 4-3 victory.
MacKenzie’s goal came with 3:06 remaining in overtime and three seconds remaining on the power-play his club was working on. He converted a beauty setup pass from 20-year-old star import centre Miroslav Holinka. The tally sent the Oil Kings home crowd of 5,173 spectators into an ecstatic frenzy.
With the win, the Oil Kings even the series at 1-1. They are still facing challenging waters as the series shifts to Saskatoon for Game 3 and 4 to be held Tuesday and Wednesday respectively at the SaskTel Centre for a 7 p.m. start time on both nights.
The Oil Kings finished third in the WHL’s Eastern Conference and fifth in the circuit’s overall regular season standings with a 45-18-3-2 mark. The Blades were sixth in the Eastern Conference and placed 10th in the overall regular season standings with a 34-27-5-2 mark.
During the regular season, Saskatoon was a club that was consistently inconsistent. The Blades were able to go out and pick up victories against the top teams in the league and would turn around and lose to squads that missed the post-season and were at the bottom of the overall standings.
In their first two contests of the 2026 post-season, it can be argued the Blades had a couple of their best outings in the overall 2025-26 campaign.
In Game 2 on Sunday, the Blades took a 1-0 lead on a goal from veteran centre Hayden Harsanyi with 2:32 remaining in the first period. The Oil Kings would even the score at 1-1 with a power-play goal coming from standout left-winger Aaron Obobaifo with 4:02 remaining in the second period.
Starting with 6:37 remaining in the third, the Oil Kings scored goals 83 seconds apart from each other to go ahead 3-1. Holinka tallied on the power play, while 17-year-old centre Dylan Dean scored at even strength.
The Blades didn’t go away. With 3:04 remaining in the third, the two clubs were playing four skaters versus four skaters due to off-setting minor penalties, and Blades pulled Gardner for an extra attacker. Harsanyi potted his second goal of the contest at that point to trim the Oil Kings lead to 3-2.
With Gardner back tending the Saskatoon net and both sides playing at full strength, Blades star import left-winger David Lewandowski fired home the equalizer with two minutes remaining in the third to force a 3-3 tie and overtime.
That set the stage for MacKenzie to score the winner in the extra session.
Gardner turned away 38 shots to take the setback in net for the Blades. Oil Kings 17-year-old rookie Parker Snell stopped 41 shots to pick up the win in goal for Edmonton.
Lewandowski had a pair of assists to go with his goal and finished with a plus-two rating in the plus-minus department. Blades rearguard Tristen Doyle posted a pair of assists and a plus-one rating.
Holinka had a pair of assists to go with his goal, while MacKenzie had a helper to go with his overtime winner. Oil Kings star 20-year-old defenceman Carter Sotheran finished with a pair of assists.
If the Blades can now find success on home ice in Games 3 and 4 of this set, they can bring the upset watch up to another level.
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