Winning at home just isn’t happening when the Saskatoon Blades and Calgary Hitmen collide.
Kristian Roykas-Marthinsen (pictured) snapped a 3-3 tie with 7:17 remaining in the third period as the Bridge City Bunch downed Calgary 5-3 Sunday. The visiting team has won all three head-to-head meetings…meaning the Blue and Gold have a 2-1 advantage in the season series. The victory also allowed the Blades to salvage one win and three of a possible six points from their three games-in-three nights swing through Alberta.
“Yeah, we’re really happy (with the triumph),” admitted Saskatoon associate coach Ryan Marsh. “We had some tough games previously. We still felt the effort was pretty good. We tried to carry out some momentum that we felt we had from (Saturday) night, even though we didn’t win (in Edmonton), I thought we played pretty (well) in the second and third periods (Saturday) night and we kind of carried that momentum into (Sunday’s) game.”
Kirby Dach paced the Bridge City Bunch with two goals and an assist. Eric Florchuk and Josh Paterson also tallied for the 9-5-2 Blue and Gold as they put the brakes on a three-game winless skid. Paterson’s tally ended a 0-for-17 drought on the power play.
Nolan Maier stopped 38 shots as the Blades surrendered at least 40 shots in a game for the fifth time in their last seven outings. But, both teams had 41 shots on goal. Saskatoon is off until Thursday when they open another three games-in-three nights run by hosting the Kootenay ICE at SaskTel Centre. Following is the official summary from the W-H-L…
Saskatoon Blades 5 at Calgary Hitmen 3 – Status: Final
Sunday, October 28, 2018 – Scotiabank Saddledome – Calgary, AB
Saskatoon 1 2 2 – 5
Calgary 1 1 1 – 3
1st Period-1, Calgary, Kryski 8 (Yeryomenko, Zamula), 10:03. 2, Saskatoon, Dach 9 (Malysjev, Gerlach), 10:35. Penalties-McKay Sas (hooking), 8:02; De La Gorgendiere Sas (delay of game), 16:04.
2nd Period-3, Saskatoon, Florchuk 5 (Dach), 10:02. 4, Calgary, Focht 3 (Prokop, Krebs), 10:34. 5, Saskatoon, Paterson 4 (Gerlach, Schuldhaus), 19:22 (PP). Penalties-Krebs Cgy (interference), 5:44; served by Nicholas Sas (too many men), 7:17; served by Carriere Cgy (too many men), 14:04; Kastelic Cgy (interference), 19:17.
3rd Period-6, Calgary, Huber 4 (Zamula, Prokop), 4:02. 7, Saskatoon, Roykas Marthinsen 5 (Wouters, Haden), 12:43. 8, Saskatoon, Dach 10 19:50 (EN). Penalties-McKay Sas (major-fighting), 1:20; van de Leest Cgy (major-fighting), 1:20; van de Leest Cgy (high sticking), 10:33; Kastelic Cgy (high sticking, high sticking), 14:43.
Shots on Goal-Saskatoon 10-14-17-41. Calgary 21-9-11-41.
Power Play Opportunities-Saskatoon 1 / 6; Calgary 0 / 3.
Goalies-Saskatoon, Maier 8-4-1-0 (41 shots-38 saves). Calgary, McNaughton 2-3-0-0 (40 shots-36 saves).
A-
Referees-Taylor Burzminski (83), Steve Papp (17).
Linesmen-Michael Roberts (87), Mason Stewart (93).
