Saints Blow Out Pontiacs for 4th Straight Win
By: Adam Kulak
The Saints got in late last night before this game after beating Bonnyville 4-1 on Friday. That would not matter at all, as the Saints showed no signs of fatigue as they lit the Pontiacs up for a 7-2 win here at the Grant Fuhr Arena. The Saints would get their 4th win in a row tonight and also improve to 12-2-0 on the regular season.
First Period
The Saints came out flying in this game, you would never know that they played the night before and got in late the way they played in the first period. Right from the first shift, they set the tempo of how they were going to play. They made quick decisions with the puck, they were the faster team and they did a great job of pressuring the puck. Bonnyville couldn?t get much going because they couldn?t get their transition game going. The Saints didn?t give them any time and space to move the puck.
Halfway through the period the Saints would get on the board first with two goals in less than a minute. 11:07 of the period, Reid Schaeffer would find Seth Fyten out front as he beats Easton Hesse over the glove. Less than a minute later, the Saints would get a positive bounce as Jordan Biro jams it in on the doorstep to jump out to a 2-0 lead.
Late in the period the Saints would get their second opportunity on the man advantage. It didn?t start so well, as Bonnyville would get an odd man rush and Daine Dubois would sneak it five hole to cut the lead in half.
Fortunately, the Powerplay would end a lot better as Riley Bodnarchuk would let a point shot go and Seth Fyten would get a stick on it for his 2nd of the game and 3rd in the last two games against the Pontiacs. The shots were 13-4 in favor of the Saints as they lead this game 3-1 after 20 minutes of play.
Second Period
It didn?t take long for the Saints to add to their lead in the second. 1:38 into the period with the Pontiacs on the Powerplay, Nick Leyer would feed it over to Brayden Nicholetts on a 2 on 1 and he beats Easton Hesse extending the lead to three.
Things got very heated in the middle frame between these two teams. Things were pretty heated last night in Bonnyville and it started to boil over a bit in this game. 8 minutes into the period, the Pontiacs took a run at a Saint player and that set everything off as there was a big scrum all over the ice.
There was 24 total penalty minutes in the period but there could have been even more as things started getting very chippy. Bonnyville played a better period in the second but the Matt Davis was rock solid, and the Saints didn?t give them anything as they still hold onto a 4-1 lead.
Third Period
Bonnyville got better as the game went on and they played a good final 40 minutes, but it seemed like everything the Saints touched went in tonight. They played a very good game from start to finish and they would not sit back and let up. They put up three more goals in the third period as they blow out the Pontiacs at home.
Grahame Gamache would get by a Pontiac defender then deke through another for a highlight reel goal with his first of the season. Gamache would get the monkey off his back in a big way as he would get another goal on the Powerplay late in the period. Brayden Nicholetts would put it on net and Gamache would jump on the rebound to give himself a two-goal night.
Lucas Thorne would beat Matt Davis with a wrister from the circle on the Powerplay as Bonnyville would add one more. But Tanner Klassen would add another for the Saints in the final minute to finish this game off in convincing fashion.
The Pontiacs could not transition efficiently and get through the neutral zone all night. In all three zones, every time Bonnyville got the puck there was always one or two Saints on top of them. The Saints were the faster team as well as the better team without the puck and it showed tonight.
The Saints are back in action here at home this Tuesday, they will welcome the Drayton Valley Thunder back to town for their third meeting of the season at 7:00pm.