It was a playoff-style game against a desperate opponent and the Saskatoon Blades prevailed in both instances Wednesday, edging the visiting red Deer rebels 3-2.

David Lewandowski (pictured) scored the winning goal on a seeing-eye shot on a power play with 5:07 remaining in the third period. The Bridge City Bunch improved to 31-25-6 for the season and pulled within three points of Brandon for second place in the W-H-L’s East Division and fifth spot in the Eastern Conference as the Wheat Kings dropped a 6-3 decision at home to Medicine Hat. For the 23-33-4 rebels, the loss kept them in sole possession of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, just one point ahead of idle Moose Jaw. The Warriors travel to Saskatoon Friday. In advance of a best-of-seven playoff series, the Blue and Gold were victorious in the first of their final seven regular-season outings in front of 3,307 fans at SaskTel Centre. Rowan Calvert and Elias Pul also scored for the Blades, who out-shot red Deer 36-35. The victory meant that the Bridge City Bunch swept the four-game season series against the rebels and upped their head-to-head winning streak over red Deer to seven straight, dating back to December, 2024. Following are the audio highlights from CJWW’s broadcast, Post-Game Show interviews with head coach Dan Da Silva, goaltender Evan Gardner and centre Kazden Mathies plus the official game summary from the W-H-L website…..

RED DEER Goals RED DEER PLAYERS (plus) SASKATOON PLAYERS (minus) Per. Time  G-As1-As2 1st 1:55 PP  9-5-7 3rd 1:17  11-8-21 6 8 11 17 21 4 13 20 77 88

SASKATOON Goals SASKATOON PLAYERS (plus) RED DEER PLAYERS (minus) Per. Time  G-As1-As2 2nd 8:39  23-77 23 46 47 77 3 6 9 14 2nd 15:14  88-16 4 16 27 37 88 6 9 14 17 26 3rd 14:53 PP  11-47