HOME GAME 27 RECAP: SAINTS BEAT BOBCATS 4-1 FOR 7TH STRAIGHT WIN.
By: Adam Kulak
Less than 24 hours after their 7-1 thumping over the Bobcats in Lloydminster, the Saints take care of them again with a 4-1 victory for their 7th straight win. With the injuries the Saints currently have, Brady Nicholas and Grahame Gamache will both play this afternoon and Logan Acheson will play his 11th game on the blueline. Matt Davis would get his 33rd start of the season as the Saints would try to sweep the home and home with Lloydminster.
The Saints started to pick up where they left off against the Bobcats in this game. A lot of the period was played in the Bobcats zone, the Saints had the puck a lot and they shot the puck a lot, peppering Bobcats goalie Justin Vertesi early. 6 minutes in, the Saints would get the first goal of the afternoon. Seth Fyten beats a defender through his legs then snipes it over the shoulder for a fantastic individual effort. The Saints killed off their one penalty kill but capitalize on the two powerplays that they had as the period would end 1-0. Shots in the period were 15-6 as the Saints would control the game after 20 minutes.
The second period was more of the same, the Bobcats didn’t have much room to work with. The Saints are the faster team and they didn’t give them any room to work with. The Saints did a much better job of exiting their zone and entering the offensive zone to establish possession. They were closing on Lloydminster fast with good puck support to quickly change possession and get back up ice. The Saints powerplay had good looks but they just couldn’t find the back of the net as Vertesi would continue to play a strong game. They didn’t capitalize on their powerplay opportunity and the score would remain 1-0 after 40 minutes. Saints would fire 12 shots and would hold Lloydminster to just 4 in the middle frame.
Lloydminster played better in the third period and would tie the game 5 minutes in. Chance Adrian took a feed and made a nice move to the backhand to tie the game up early. It wasn’t until the final 8 minutes of the game that the dam would start to break for the Saints as they put up three in just under 7 minutes to put the game away. They finally capitalized on a powerplay as Logan Ganie would get the puck at the right dot and pick the corner on Justin Vertesi. Three minutes later, Seth Fyten would drive to the net and take a sweet feed from Jordan Biro to redirect it in for his second of the game. Logan Ganie would take a feed from Dylan Bourlai for his second of the game as well to put away the 4-1 victory this afternoon at the Grant Fuhr Arena. The game was closer than it probably should have been for most of it as the Saints struggled to finish like the night before. But the stuck with it and eventually put it away late, final shots in the game were 39-18 for the Saints.
They are back in action Wednesday in Bonnyville to battle the Pontiacs. They are back home Friday night as they welcome the Grande Prairie Storm, puck drop at 7:00 PM.