The Saskatoon Blades won 6-3 against the Red Deer Rebels in the WHL Eastern Conference semifinal, cutting the Rebels’ lead to 3-2 in the best-of-seven series. The Blades scored three power play goals and two even-strength markers in the third period to secure the victory. The Rebels struggled with penalties, which proved to be their downfall as the Blades took advantage of their power play opportunities. The two teams will face each other again on Sunday in Game 6, with the Rebels still having a chance to win the series at home.
Tanner Molendyk opened up the scoring for the Blades at 5:39 of the first period with assists on the goal to Egor Sidorov and Trevor Wong.
Kai Uchacz made it 2-1 at 11:08 of the first period unassisted. Egor Sidorov gave the Blades the 2-1 lead at 11:59 of the first period on the power play from Trevor Wong and Aidan De La Gorgendiere.
Kai Uchacz scores again to make it 2-2 at 16:58 of the first period with assists to Jace Isley and Frantisek Formanek. Egor Sidorov made it 3-2 on the power play at 18:03 of the first period with assists to Aidan De La Gorgendiere. That was the end of Kyle Kelsey’s night. The Rebels outshot the Blades 8-7 in the first period.
Ollie Josephson scored his second of the playoffs from Carson Birnie and Nicholas Andrusiak at 1:28 of the second period.
Aidan De La Gorgendiere made it 4-3 on the powerplay at 19:35 of the second period assisted by Charlie Wright and Josh Pillar.
Jayden Wiens made it 5-3 at 5:41 of the third period from Jake Chiasson and former Seattle Thunderbird and Winnipeg, MB native Conner Roulette. Then for extra measure Tanner Molendyk scored his third of the playoffs from Vaughn Watterodt at 12:34 of the third period to make it 6-3 game for the Blades.
Other Notes
Rebels Next game is Sunday Game 6 at the Peavey Mart Centrium in Red Deer April 23rd.
Attendance at Saskatoon 5908
Three Stars of the game 1) Aidan De La Gorgendiere 2) Egor Sidorov 3) Tanner Moldendyk
The Blades outshot the Rebels 31-17. Ethan Chadwick made 14 saves for the win. Kyle Kelsey and Chase Coward split the goaltending duties for Red Deer.
Justin Lies suspension? Not really sure as to what will happen.
Ahead of the NHL Entry Draft in June, NHL Central Scouting released its final rankings list, which included three Blades players. Molendyk climbed to the 28th spot, eight spots higher than his position in January’s midterm rankings. The other two members named on the list were forwards Egor Sidorov and Vaughn Watterodt. Sidorov, a Vitebsk, Belarus native, ranked 81st, five spots higher than his position in the midterm rankings. He leads the club with five goals this postseason and was the club’s top goal-scorer during the regular season, netting 40 goals in 53 games, becoming the first Blade to do so since Max Gerlach in the 2018-19 season. Watterodt, from Rosetown, SK, made his debut on the list at 210. The 5-foot-11 winger has eight points in 11 playoff games this year, with seven coming in Round 1 against the Regina Pats.
