Blades Use Third Period Multi-Goal Scoring Script, Again, to be Victorious – This Time Over the Raiders

The Saskatoon Blades, not the Prince Albert Raiders, will go into the New Year on a legit three-game winning streak after the Bridge City Bunch doubled up the Raiders 4-2 Monday night in P-A.

For now, the Blue and Gold are finding success by hanging around through two periods, then pouring on the offence in the third frame. On Monday, the Blades entered the third trailing Prince Albert 1-0, but out-scored the Raiders 4-1 for Saskatoon’s third straight win and ending P-A’s modest winning streak at two games. In the three victories since returning from the Christmas break, the Bridge City Bunch have out-scored opponents 14-6 overall and 12-1 in third periods. On Monday, Ben Riche (pictured) recorded his second straight game winning goal, breaking a 2-2 tie with 4:18 remaining in regulation time on a power play. The 19-year-old Bethune product added two assists, giving him 21 goals amongst 48 points this season. Riche’s goal also allowed him to reach the 100-point plateau in his W-H-L career. Brandon Lisowsky extended his points streak to 12 games, during which he has scored 12 goals, also connecting on the man advantage for his team-leading 22 goals for the campaign. Cooper Williams and Hudson Kibblewhite, the latter scoring into an empty net, also tallied for the Blue and Gold – now 20-10-4 for the season for 44 points, tied with Medicine Hat for first place in the Eastern Conference and five points ahead of Brandon for top spot in the East Division. Lisowsky chipped in a helper for a two-point game. The Blades also killed off five-of-six Raiders’ power play chances. Prince Albert, now 17-12-3 for the season, came into the game with the top power play in the W-H-L, but Saskatoon did a commendable job of keeping them off the scoreboard until a Brayden Dube third period man advantage marker. Captain Justice Christensen also scored for the Raiders, who out-shot the Bridge City Bunch 32-26 with Evan Gardner stopping 30 shots for his 15th win of the season in a goaltender’s dual with the Raiders’ Max Hildebrand. The same teams meet New Year’s Day, Wednesday, at 4 o’clock at SaskTel Centre with CJWW’s broadcast beginning at 3:45. Following are the audio highlights from CJWW’s broadcast, Les Lazaruk’s Post-Game Show interviews with head coach Dan Da Silva and Riche plus the official game summary courtesy the W-H-L…..

SASKATOON Goals SASKATOON PLAYERS (plus) PRINCE ALBERT PLAYERS (minus) Per. Time  G-As1-As2 3rd 1:24 PP  8-19 3rd 4:06  25-9 4 9 14 21 25 2 10 18 23 25 3rd 15:42 PP  19-8-21 3rd 19:30 EN  11-2-19 2 8 11 19 52 3 7 15 19 24 26

PRINCE ALBERT Goals PRINCE ALBERT PLAYERS (plus) SASKATOON PLAYERS (minus) Per. Time  G-As1-As2 1st 11:22  7-26 7 10 23 26 43 4 13 16 19 83 3rd 10:37 PP  15-19-26