Blades return from break with pair of losses to Raiders

The Saskatoon Blades were in tough to start the second half of the Western Hockey League (WHL) season, losing a pair of games to the league-leading Prince Albert Raiders on Thursday and Friday.

The Raiders continued their winning habits with a 4-3 overtime victory on Thursday and a 4-2 win on Friday without top goal-scorer Brett Leason and standout goaltender Ian Scott. The pair will represent Team Canada at the World Junior Championships in Vancouver.

It was a spirited affair on Thursday in Saskatoon. Kyle Crnkovic scored first for the Blades while Noah Gregor responded for the Raiders to tie the game 1-1 after the first period.

Prince Albert opened its first lead of the game with Gregor’s second of the night before the Blades’ Eric Florchuk scored his 10th of the season to tie the score 2-2. Max Gerlach scored his 20th goal of the season on a 5-on-3 powerplay to give the Blades a 3-2 lead after two periods.

Prince Albert’s Brayden Pachal completed the comeback all on his own, scoring the lone goal of the third period before netting the overtime winner 33 seconds into the extra frame for the 4-3 victory.

Friday’s game began with a Blades lead, thanks to a Gary Haden goal. Minutes later, Saskatoon’s Brandon Schuldhaus was assessed a major penalty for kneeing the Raiders’ Max Martin. Noah Gregor scored during the five-minute powerplay to tie the game.

Kristian Roykas-Marthinsen restored the Blades lead before the end of the first.

For the second night in a row, the Blades were victims of another Raiders comeback as Gregor scored 20 seconds into the second period to even the game at 2-2.

Aliaksei Protas bounced a long-distance effort off a Blades defender for the Raiders first lead of the game halfway through the third period. A Cole Fonstad empty-net goal would guide the Raiders to the 4-2 win.

With the win, Prince Albert maintained a perfect record on home ice improving to 17-0-0-0 at the Art Hauser Centre while the Blades left with a 21-11-5-0 overall record on the season.

Saskatoon is in Swift Current for a Sunday matinee game to round out the weekend. The Blades are back at Sasktel Centre on New Years Day for a 2 p.m. clash against the Swift Current Broncos.