SASKATOON, Sask. – The Saskatoon Blades’ championship dreams evaporated with a listless, detached effort lacking any form of intensity.
The London Knights advanced to Friday’s semifinal with a 6-1 win over the Blades in Thursday’s tiebreaker. A day earlier, the Blades needed only to win the third period of their final round robin game against Portland to receive the bye to the finals. Instead, now they’re the first team eliminated.
“That’s the way hockey goes,” Blades captain Brenden Walker said. “It didn’t go our way and playoffs didn’t go our way and it’s not like we tried to lose any games. It’s just things didn’t work out.”
The Knights rebounded from their embarrassing 9-2 loss to the Halifax Mooseheads on Tuesday with a much more inspired effort. Jake Patterson, who allowed five goals on 11 shots on Tuesday, stopped 32-of-33 shots but didn’t face too many prime scoring chances, which speaks to the Knights’ defensive play.
“The boys in front of me, the D played great,” Patterson said. “I didn’t have to make too many big saves. I just had to control the rebounds and just play my game.”
London will now play the Portland Winterhawks in Friday’s semifinal.
“It’s do or die and there’s no choice, we have to win,” Patterson said.
The Blades actually started with some jump, but their fragile confidence eroded at the first sign of trouble. Bo Horvat received a breakaway pass while the Blades were on the power-play and was hauled down by Josh Nicholls. Horvat scored on the ensuing penalty shot, and it was all downhill from there for the hosts.
“That’s for sure deflating,” Walker said. “That’s a big goal to give up and something that we shouldn’t have but that stuff happens.”
This was the third-straight loss for a team playing in back-to-back nights. Teams playing consecutive nights have been outscored 20-5 on the second night.
Why the Knights won: The Knights responded well from their humiliating loss to Halifax with a strong effort. Horvat’s penalty shot goal just three minutes into the game restored their confidence and it was evident in their play from there on out.
It was only a matter of time until they scored a few more given the amount of chances they were getting. With a 3-0 lead after two periods, the Ontario Hockey League champs made sure the Blades wouldn’t be able to get back into the game with three goals in a span of one minute and six seconds early in the third.
“Comebacks with the opponents has been almost a regular thing with us in the playoffs so we knew we had to come out strong and those three goals right off the bat definitely helped us,” Knights forward Seth Griffith said.
Why the Blades lost: The Blades lost their confidence the moment Horvat scored the game’s first goal three minutes in.
Saskatoon couldn’t generate chances offensively and were giving up the better opportunities with the man advantage. Nathan Burns scored a meaningless goal with the score already 6-0 midway through the third period, far too little and far too late.
“You can see that when we had that four-minute power-play (early in the second period) we just couldn’t generate anything and the momentum really changed in their favour at that time,” Blades head coach Lorne Molleken said.
Player of the Game: Griffith was around the puck and one of London’s most dangerous forwards. He scored what would turn out to be the game-winner with a pinpoint accurate shot going top corner on his breakaway.
“On a good goalie, that’s what you have to do to score on him,” he said.
Unsung hero: The score sheet won’t reflect it, but Andrey Makarov was exceptional in goal for the Blades. He had little chance to stop the first three goals, and it likely would have been much worse if not for some big stops he made through the first 40 minutes. By the time he allowed the first of three third period goals, the game was already well out of reach. He eventually got the mercy pull after the sixth goal.
“For sure tough to see him with a down face, but I told him to keep his chin up – he played a hell of a game for us,” Walker said. “He’s got a great future ahead of him.”
Game changer: The Knights carried the play throughout, but were stymied repeatedly by Makarov in the early going. The floodgates were opened once Griffith scored the team’s second goal on a pretty individual rush on the power-play.
Griffith recognized a breakdown defensively from the Blades and stepped around forward Collin Valcourt at the blue line to get the chance.
“I just tried to take advantage of it and lucky enough it went through his stick and I got a good break out of it,” Griffith said.
Quote of the day: Knights head coach Dale Hunter has been asked about his goaltending throughout the tournament. Among the most repeated questions is which goalie he plans on starting before each game. London Free Press reporter Morris Dallacosta couldn’t help take the bait in a funny moment at the end of the conference.
“Dale, who you going to start in net,” he said, before pausing. “Nevermind.”
