Armstrong’s O-T Goal is a Hat-Trick Winner as Blades Slip Past Raiders

They never trailed, but they were never comfortable, yet the Saskatoon Blades found a way to record a big playoff victory on the road Tuesday, 4-3 in overtime over the Raiders in Prince Albert.

Easton Armstrong (pictured) was the hero, stuffing Trevor Wong’s goal-mouth pass into the net 23 seconds into O-T. It was the 21-year-old Denver product’s third goal of the game and came on a power play that the Bridge City Bunch carried over into extra time. The victory gives the Blue and Gold a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarter-final with Game 4 Wednesday back at the Art Hauser Centre. The Blades led 2-0 and 3-2 at the period breaks. Armstrong scored both Saskatoon goals in the opening frame as the Bridge City Bunch have led 2-0 in all three games of the series. P-A battled back to tie shortly after the mid-point of the second frame on goals from Krzysztof Macias and Ryder Ritchie – the latter tally on the power play. However, the Blue and Gold regained the lead on Wong’s first playoff goal before the second period stanza ended, In the third period, the Blades nursed the lead for 14 minutes, only to have Aiden Oiring force overtime with 5:38 remaining in regulation time. The boisterous, partisan crowd of 2,930 weren’t happy when veteran Prince Albert forward Sloan Stanick was assessed a tripping penalty with 1:02 left in the third period – penalty time that carries into overtime when Armstrong scored. Saskatoon out-shot the Raiders 35-21. CJWW has the broadcast of Game 4 Wednesday, starting with the Palliser Rooms E-Q-3 Cutting Edge Pre-Game Show at 6:45 p.m. and the play-by-play at 7 o’clock. Following are the audio highlights from CJWW’s broadcast, Post-Game Show interviews with Bridge City Bunch head coach Brennan Sonne and Armstrong plus the official game summary courtesy the W-H-L…..

Saskatoon Blades 4 (OT) at Prince Albert Raiders 3 – Status: Final OT
Tuesday, April 2, 2024 – Art Hauser Centre – Prince Albert, SK

Saskatoon 2 1 0 1 – 4
Prince Albert 0 2 1 0 – 3

1st Period-1, Saskatoon, Armstrong 2 5:56. 2, Saskatoon, Armstrong 3 9:03. Penalties-Babcock Sas (interference), 1:39; McMillen Pa (interference), 11:05; Minten Sas (cross checking), 13:19.

2nd Period-3, Prince Albert, Macias 1 (Stanick, Goldsmith), 2:51. 4, Prince Albert, Ritchie 2 (Stanick, Christensen), 11:32 (PP). 5, Saskatoon, Wong 1 17:13. Penalties-Macias Pa (hooking), 0:37; Andrusiak Sas (holding), 11:15; Stanick Pa (interference), 13:20.

3rd Period-6, Prince Albert, Oiring 2 (Ritchie), 14:22. Penalties-Lodewyk Pa (inter. on goaltender), 6:12; Volotovskii Sas (interference), 9:19; Armstrong Sas (charging), 14:39; Oiring Pa (hooking), 16:09; Stanick Pa (tripping), 18:58.

OT Period-7, Saskatoon, Armstrong 4 (Wong, Lisowsky), 0:23 (PP). Penalties-No Penalties

Shots on Goal-Saskatoon 16-10-7-2-35. Prince Albert 4-8-9-0-21.
Power Play Opportunities-Saskatoon 1 / 6; Prince Albert 1 / 4.
Goalies-Saskatoon, Gardner (21 shots-18 saves). Prince Albert, Hildebrand (35 shots-31 saves).
A-2,930
Referees-Bryce Sebastian (64), Adam Bloski (16).
Linesmen-Jordan Carriere (108), Levi Schutz (110).