Evan Gardner shuts the door on the Raiders as the Blades even the series

After Thursday night didn’t go to plan for the Saskatoon Blades, the Blue and Yellow evened a best-of-seven WHL playoff series at one win apiece with a 4-1 victory over the Prince Albert Raiders at SaskTel Centre.

It all started with Blades defenceman John Babcock, who got all 8,242 fans standing on their feet after he rifled one past Raiders goalie Max Hildebrand for the early 1-0 lead.

Blades head coach Brennan Sonne said that was a very important goal.

“I thought we came out with a fire,” said Sonne, whose team lost the series opener 4-3. “Then there was a pushback … and I thought we weathered the storm pretty good. We didn’t just leak chances.”

As for Babcock, he said it felt pretty good to pot one early.

“It’s nice when they go in,” said Babcock. “(I) wasn’t really looking for it. (I was) just trying to get a puck to the net and fortunate it went in.”

Then in the second period, Blades 50-goal scorer Egor Sidorov buried his third of the postseason, just five seconds into a power play.

In the third period Easton Armstrong and Tyler Parr gave the Blades a 4-0 lead, before Raiders forward Niall Crocker found the back of the net in the dying seconds of the third.

It was a total team effort for the Blades, whether it was five-on-five or special teams. Sonne said he really liked the effort that was put on to display.

“I liked a lot that we learned the lesson of the second period,” said Sonne. “We played Blades hockey. We came in waves.”

As the floodgates began to open, so did the penalty gate.

If there were any questions left about if these two teams liked each other or not, those questions were answered.

After every whistle, players jawed at each other or engaged in some extracurricular pushing and shoving, but that’s just what playoff hockey is.

Babcock said he isn’t the type of guy to avoid extra physicality.

“There’s a line and I feel like today we almost did kind of cross that line,” said Babcock. “I’m not afraid of physicality or won’t shy away from it.”

The story of the game might be Blades rookie goaltender Evan Gardner as he did his best impression of a brick wall.

As Gardner led his team out for his first career WHL playoff start, he said he wasn’t nervous for the challenge.

“I actually felt probably more calm than usual,” said Gardner. “I didn’t look at it any different, I was excited to get in there.”

Gardner also picked up right where he left off in the regular season as he stopped 31 of 32 shots for the win, just missing out on a shutout.

“It would’ve been kind of cool,” said Gardner. “But that’s not something I’m looking for. I’m looking more for the wins, because that’s all that matters at this time of year.”

Now the series will shift to Prince Albert where Raiders head coach Jeff Truitt said the atmosphere is going to be amazing.

“It’ll be loud. Their support is very much appreciated,” said Truitt. “There is no other place to play than the Art Hauser Centre in a playoff game against Saskatoon.”

Game 3 is set for Tuesday.