A good road first period for the Wheat Kings proved to be their best period of the game in the season series finale against the Saskatoon Blades, and it turned out the Blades were just getting started.
Luke Mistelbacher and Gio Pantelas scored but the Wheat Kings dropped their last trip to Saskatoon of the season 6-2. Filip Ruzicka stopped 28 shots in the loss.
“The last 40 was not acceptable,” said Wheat Kings head coach and GM Marty Murray. “We tried to fake our way through the game, and Saskatoon bore down. They were men against boys. It was pretty ugly there, the last 40 minutes.”
Just 5:01 into the first, Saskatoon opened the scoring. David Lewandowski dropped the puck off at centre to Hayden Harsanyi in full flight, and he broke in up the left wing and snapped one through Ruzicka.
Off the rush, the Wheat Kings got an unconventional reply from their leading goal scorer. Brett Wilson picked up the puck at the top of the offensive zone and attacked from the right circle, throwing one on goal that went off the toe-cap of Mistelbacher’s skate and over Evan Gardner’s shoulder.
In the second, the Blades struck twice in succession. First, Jack Kachkowski jumped up into the rush and put a perfect pass to Zach Olsen at the right side of the Wheat Kings’ crease for the 2-1 lead. Then, just as a power play expired, Olsen sent the puck out front to Kazden Mathies, who made no mistake from in front.
With less than a minute to go in the second, however, the Wheat Kings got some of their own back. Caleb Hadland won a battle at centre and Pantelas carried the puck in with him 2-on-1. Keeping for himself, Pantelas showed great patience, deking out Gardner and snapping one over his shoulder to cut the lead in half.
Early in the third, the Blades restored their two-goal lead and then built on it. First, on a power play, Lewandowski shot through traffic to make it 4-2. Then, after the Wheat Kings were denied at one end, Olsen cashed in on a rebound of a shot that popped out to him for a slap shot and a 5-2 lead.
The Blades extended their lead off another rush later in the third. Tyler Parr’s backhand bounced off the shoulder of Ruzicka and settled down from Elias Pul, who snapped home his 11th of the season.
The Wheat Kings loss moves them to 4-4-0 against the Blades on the season series and ensures they can finish no higher than 5th in the Eastern Conference. They close out the regular season with a home-and-home against the Regina Pats.
