THE CANADIAN PRESS
LETHBRIDGE, Alta. — Jay Merkley was the lone scorer in the shootout as the Lethbridge Hurricanes edged the Saskatoon Blades 5-4 on Saturday in Western Hockey League action.
Merkley also scored in regulation time for Lethbridge (10-7-2), while Remi Laurencelle and Craig Leverton both scored in the third period to tie the game and force overtime. Captain Graham Hood also scored for the Hurricanes.
Dalton Thrower and Adam Kambeitz both scored on the power play for Saskatoon (7-9-1), while Josh Nicholls and Matej Stransky had goals as well.
Ty Rimmer made 24 saves for Lethbridge as Andrey Makarov stopped 40 shots for the Blades.
The Hurricanes went 0-for-4 on the power play, while Saskatoon was 2-for-4 with the man advantage.
Sam Mckechnie and Tyler Wong were Lethbridge’s other skaters in the shootout, while Shane McColgan, Nicholls and Stransky went for the Blades.
Thunderbirds 4, Warriors 3 (SO)
MOOSE JAW, Sask. — For the second time in as many nights, the Moose Jaw Warriors let a third-period lead slip away.
The Seattle Thunderbirds rallied to a 4-3 shootout win over the Warriors in Western Hockey League action Saturday.
Alexander Delnov and Riley Sheen scored in the shootout for the Thunderbirds (8-7-1), while Brendan Rouse, Seth Swenson and Robert Lipsbergs scored in regulation.
Andrew Johnson and Tanner Eberle scored in the first period for Moose Jaw (7-7-4), while Sam Fioretti added one more in the third.
"We definitely want to be known as a team that can close out a game. You want to be tough to play against — especially when you have a lead late in the third period," said Warriors left-winger Jordan Messier. "We have to address it.
"If we play like we played in the first 20 (minutes) we’re going to like the result most nights."
Johnson and Eberle staked the Warriors to a 2-0 lead, but Swenson scored for Seattle in the second and Lipsbergs tied the game 3:23 into the third on the power play.
Fioretti’s goal put Moose Jaw back on top but Rouse added another power-play goal for the Thunderbirds at 14:43 to force extra time.
"Any time you sit back in this league — it doesn’t matter the team — they’re going to make you pay for it," said Messier. "We came out hard in the first period and we sat back and let them back in the game and it cost us."
Former Warriors goaltender Brandon Glover made 22 saves for Seattle, while Daniel Wapple stopped 28 shots for Moose Jaw.
Pats 4, Raiders 1
REGINA — Goaltender Matt Hewitt made 36 saves as the Regina Pats dumped the Prince Albert Raiders 4-1 on Saturday in Western Hockey League play.
Dyson Stevenson had a power-play goal for Regina (7-11-1), while Colten Mayor, Jack Rodewald and Emil Sylvegard also scored.
Sawyer Lange had the only goal for Prince Albert (11-5-2), as Luke Siemens stopped 23 shots.
The Pats were 1-for-4 on the power play and the Raiders went 0-for-3 with the man advantage.
Both teams were heavily penalized, with Regina accruing 40 minutes of penalties and Prince Albert earning 42.
Giants 6, Ice 3
CRANBROOK, B.C. — Marek Tvrdon scored twice and added two assists in the Vancouver Giants’ 6-3 victory over the Kootenay Ice in Western Hockey League on Saturday.
Anthony Ast, Kale Kessy, Jackson Houck and Mason Geertsen also scored for the Giants (5-11-0), who scored four unanswered goals to take the lead for good.
Kyle O’Connor, Jon Martin and Sam Reinhart each scored for the Ice (4-10-1).
Payton Lee made 21 saves in net for the Giants, while Wyatt Hoflin and Mackenzie Skapski combined to stop 22 shots.
Tvrdon gave Vancouver the lead 10:05 into the first period.
Martin tied the game for Kootenay just 1:40 into the second with a short-handed goal, but from there it was all Vancouver.
Ast, Kessy and Houck each scored in the second and Tvrdon added his second goal just over a minute into the third to give Vancouver a 5-1 lead.
O’Connor and Reinhart scored for the Ice, but Geertsen’s goal in the final minute of the game put the result beyond doubt.
Oil Kings 2, Broncos 1
SWIFT CURRENT, Sask. — Michael St. Croix scored his team-leading 11th goal with 11:43 left in regulation to spark the visiting Edmonton Oil Kings to a 2-1 win over the Swift Current Broncos on Saturday in Western Hockey League play.
Rookie Luke Bertolucci scored his first career WHL goal to tie the game 1-1 for Edmonton (10-4-3) in the second. Laurent Brossoit turned aside 27 of 28 shots.
Levi Bews had given Swift Current (7-8-5) a 1-0 first period lead when he scored his eighth of the year with one minute left in the opening period. Broncos import netminder Eetu Laurikainen gave up a pair of goals on 20 shots.
The Oil Kings went 0-for-2 on the power play, while Swift Current was 0-for-8.
Hitmen 4, Wheat Kings 2
BRANDON, Man. — Greg Chase set up three goals to lead the Calgary Hitmen to a 4-2 victory over the Brandon Wheat Kings on Saturday in the Western Hockey League.
Chase Clayton and Pavlo Padakin each had a goal and an assist for Calgary (10-4-3), while Brendan Hurley and Brooks Macek also scored.
Chad Robinson and Ryan Pulock replied for the Wheat Kings (8-7-3).
Brandon goaltender Corbin Boes stopped 36 shots, while Chris Driedger made 26 saves for Calgary.
Chiefs 5, Silvertips 0
SPOKANE, Wash. — Eric Williams made 26 saves as the Spokane Chiefs shut out the Everett Silvertips 5-0 on Saturday in Western Hockey League action.
Todd Fiddler and Connor Chartier had a goal and an assist each for Spokane (12-6-0), while Mike Aviani added two assists. The Chiefs got their remaining goals from Colin Valcourt, Adam Helewka and captain Brenden Kichton.
Everett (6-11-2) is last in the U.S. Division and second to last in the Western Conference. Austin Lotz started in net for the Silvertips, making 14 saves on 18 shots in 27:41 of work. He was replaced by Daniel Cotton, who turned aside 14 of 15 shots.
Kichton, who teed up on a perfect feed from Aviani and went top shelf seven seconds into the third-period power play to give Spokane the 5-0 lead.
Winterhawks 6, Royals 2
PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland Winterhawks won their eighth in a row, as they rallied from a 2-0 deficit in the first period to dump the Victoria Royals 6-2 in WHL action Saturday.
Jamie Crooks and Alex Gogolev gave Victoria (9-8-0) a 2-0 lead midway through the first period before the Winterhawks (12-3-1) scored six unanswered goals to send the Royals to their fourth straight loss.
Keegan Iverson scored the first Portland goal at 12:37 of the first period.
Ty Rattie scored the equalizer at 1:36 of the second period, and Troy Rutkowski got the winner with his first of two goals at 12:50 of the second while the Winterhawks were short-handed.
Brendan Leipsic and Nicolas Petan scored in the third period before Rutkowski scored again on the power play at 10:08.
The Winterhawks also beat the Royals 6-2 Friday in Portland, and have outscored their opponents 44-12 during their eight-game winning streak.
Mac Carruth improved to 5-0 in net for Portland, making 30 saves. Carruth has yet to allow more than two goals in a game this season.
Victoria’s Coleman Vollrath stopped 39 shots.
The Royals went 1-for-7 on the power play, while the Winterhawks finished 1-for-3.
Americans 5, Rebels 2
KENNEWICK, Wash. — Justin Feser and Brian Williams had two goals apiece to lead the Tri-City Americans to a 5-2 victory Saturday over the Red Deer Rebels in Western Hockey League play.
In the second of an eight-game homestand, the Americans (11-6-2) ended a three-game losing streak to the Rebels (9-9-2), who are two games into a five-game road trip.
"I didn’t think we played as well as we did last night," said Rebels coach Jesse Wallin, whose team beat Spokane on Friday. "They came out hard, skated well and we had too many turnovers. That played in their favour."
Malte Stromwall chipped in two assists for the Americans, who also got a goal from Tyson Dallman.
Tri-City goalie Eric Comrie finished with 17 saves in picking up his 11th win. He also had an assist on Feser’s first goal.
Cody Thiel and Turner Elson scored for Red Deer, which was missing leading scorer Charles Inglis because of the flu. Bolton Pouliot and Patrik Bartosak combined for 33 saves in the loss.
