It was a night filled with close games in the Western Hockey League, with all three contests involving Saskatchewan teams going right down to the wire.
The Saskatoon Blades defeated the Prince Albert Raiders 3-2 on the road for their first victory of the season, while the Swift Current Broncos took a 4-2 home ice win over the Moose Jaw Warriors and the Regina Pats dropped a 3-2 shootout decision to the Brandon Wheat Kings in Brandon.
Blades 3, Prince Albert 2
The two teams played a scoreless first period, in no small part due to Blades goaltender and eventual first star Martin Psohlavec, who had 13 saves in the frame, including a handful of grade A stops.
Saskatoon opened scoring with eight minutes gone in the second period, thanks to Kazden Mathies finding the back of the net on the power play.
Connor Howe scored a power play goal of his own for Prince Albert to tie the game with 16 seconds left in the frame.
Ben Harvey then gave the Raiders a 2-1 lead only 2:02 into the third, but Jack Kachkowski would get that one back with 6:01 left in the game.
That set the stage for David Lewandowski in the contest’s dying moments, as he’d get off a shot from the point that found its way through traffic and past Raiders goaltender Michal Orsulak. The game winner came with only 1:38 remaining in the contest.
Brayden Klimpke — who was named team captain earlier in the week — had a pair of assists for the Blades.
Psohlavec had 26 saves for Saskatoon, Orsulak turned aside 29 for the Raiders.
Saskatoon improves to 1-1-1-0, Prince Albert falls to 1-2-0-0.
Swift Current 4, Moose Jaw 2
The Warriors got off to a fast start in Speedy Creek, getting off the first eight shots of the game and taking a 1-0 lead when Landen McFadden scored 2:27 into the contest.
Swift Current got back a pair of quick ones late in the period, as Jacob Beaulieu scored on a great individual effort with 4:36 remaining and Zach Pantelakis then gave the Broncos the lead only nine seconds later.
Hudson Kowalchuk extended Swift Current’s lead with 9:35 remaining in the second period, but the two-goal edge wouldn’t last long.
The Warriors’ Jan Trefny got to the front of the Broncos goal and managed to outduel a defender before batting the puck into the net after being knocked to the ice. The goal came with 5:57 remaining in the second.
Pantelakis finished off scoring with 6:10 remaining in the game.
Cal Conway had 30 saves in the winning effort, Jordan Switzer stopped 32 in the loss.
Swift Current continues their perfect start at 2-0-0-0, Moose Jaw falls to 1-1-0-0.
Brandon 3, Regina 2 (SO)
Brandon got things started 6:14 into the game on a goal from Kris Muissu and then extended their edge with 4:41 to play in the opening frame when Joby Baumuller found the back of the net.
Ellis Mieyette scored the lone goal of the second period to get Regina within striking distance, and that’s where things would stand heading into the final 20 minutes.
There, Ossi Tukio scored his first as a member of the Pats with 5:13 gone, and that marker would stand as the final goal of regulation.
Overtime solved nothing, and the two teams went to a shootout. Nine rounds and three goals for either team later, Ahmad Fayad would finish things off to give Brandon the victory.
Mieyette had two points for the Pats, Regina product Chase Surkan picked up a pair of helpers for the Wheat Kings.
Ryley Budd had a solid outing and took first star honours after stopping 40 shots on the night. Taylor Tabashniuk had 24 saves for Regina.
Brandon improves to 2-0-0-0, Regina falls to 0-1-0-1.
Up Next
Two games involving Saskatchewan teams are on tap for Saturday night, as Brandon is at Moose Jaw (6 p.m., Temple Gardens Centre) and Prince Albert is in Saskatoon (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).
