Ice layer on the goals versus the Blades in Game 2 victory

There’s no need to panic yet, but the Saskatoon Blades have been in this position before.

On Saturday afternoon, the Blades dropped a 6-2 decision to the Winnipeg Ice in Game 2 of the best-of-seven WHL Eastern Conference final.

That puts Saskatoon in an 0-2 deficit again, just like it was against the Regina Pats in the first round and the Red Deer Rebels in the second round.

Winnipeg showed why it was the top team in the regular season in the WHL — earning 115 points — by scoring five unanswered goals to open the game.

In the dying seconds of an Ice penalty kill, Connor McClennon walked into the Saskatoon zone and fired a wrist shot past Austin Elliott to open the scoring.

And it didn’t stop there, as the Blades couldn’t hold back the Ice’s offensive firepower.

McClennon added his second of the game, this time on the power play, to double Winnipeg’s lead going into the second period.

Zach Benson and Owen Peterson each found the back of the net in the second to extend the Ice lead even further.

Just as the Blades thought it couldn’t get any worse, McClennon added to his goal total of the day by completing the hat trick early in the third period.

But the Blades had a little bit of fight left in them.

Justin Lies danced around Ice defenceman Carson Lambos and scored his second of the playoffs.

Then Jayden Wiens found the back of the net on the power play to make it a 5-2 game.

That was all Saskatoon could get out of its offence on Saturday, as Matthew Savoie added a sixth and final goal into a Blades empty net for Winnipeg.

The series will now shift to Saskatoon for games 3 and 4, where the Blades hope to turn their fortunes around to avoid going down 0-3 in a series, again.

Game 3 will take place at SaskTel Centre on Tuesday night with puck drop at 7 p.m.