|
Written by Dale Woodard
|
|
Saturday, October 10 2009, 11:35 PM |
At first, the numbers looked promising for the Lethbridge Hurricanes as they hosted the Saskatoon Blades Saturday night at the Enmax
Less than a minute removed from their fourth straight win, the ’Canes gave up the tying goal. In overtime, the numbers once again haunted them as the Hurricanes were whistled down for too many men on the ice.
The Blades promptly turned that power play into a 3-2 overtime win.
“I thought we were the better team in the first half and they were the better team in the second half,” said Hurricanes GM and coach Rich Preston. “I think their energy level was better than ours in the second.
“Still, (when) we’re up 2-1 with four or five minutes to go, you have to close those games up.”
Like Friday night’s 5-2 win over the Edmonton Oil Kings, the Hurricanes were first on the board as Mitch Maxwell took a feed from Carter Bancks and poked a power-play goal past Blades goaltender Adam Morrison in the first period for a 1-0 lead. this came despite losing forward Carter Ashton earlier in the period, when he was called for checking from behind and handed a game misconduct.
It didn’t take the Blades long to tie the game in the second as Walker Wintoneak scored 20 seconds into the second period. The goal is likely one Lethbridge goalie Linden Rowat would like back, as Wintoneak scored from the sideboards on a seeing-eye shot which squeezed through the short side.
Shortly afterwards, the Blades found themselves down a pair of skaters and the ’Canes capitalized on the ensuing five-on-three as Mike Reddington hammered a shot through traffic and past Morrison for a 2-1 lead 3:11 into the second.
“I thought we were very undisciplined in a lot of areas tonight and as a result we ended up taking some penalties that were unnecessary,” said Blades head coach Lorne Molleken. “But they did a pretty good job, even though they got two power-play goals. I thought we did a good job allowing Morrison to see the puck.”
That 2-1 Lethbridge lead stood until the 47-second mark when Blades sniper Derek Hulak stuffed a shot past Rowat.
Then with the momentum in the visitors favour and the Hurricanes down a man in OT, the Blades took full advantage of the four-on-three situation as Jyri Niemi hammered a bullet past Rowat to seal the comeback win.
“We took too many penalties in the third. Unnecessary penalties. And that’s what happens,” said Preston. “The guys that killed penalties got tired and those are our top guys. But still, you have to close those games out. We took a dumb too many men penalty and it cost us. But you learn from it and when you look at it, we have seven of the last eight points, so you move on.”
“I think the important thing is we found a way to win a hockey game,” said Molleken. “I felt Lethbridge played a really strong game here tonight. If it wasn’t for our goaltender, the first period could have been a different game. But we hung in there and found a way to tie it up late in the game. I thought it was a really hard-fought game by both teams.”
In addition to opening the scoring, Maxwell — who scored twice Friday night — assisted on Reddington’s goal as well.
“Mitch has handled more ice time and handled it well. He’s a really skilled player and does everything well,” said Preston.
The Hurricanes are back in action Wednesday night against the Chilliwack Bruins at 7 p.m. at the Enmax Centre.
|
