By: Terry Martin
The Saints and Thunder came into Drayton Valley tonight to battle it out in game three of this four game series, with Spruce Grove leading two games to none. With a win tonight the Saints would be on a 4-game winning streak.
For the third time in this series, the Thunder would be the ones to open the scoring as Mason Marcellus finds the open net after a 2-on-1 break. The Thunder would find themselves in another odd man position moments later as Dexton Mozell wraps the puck to score shorthanded. Both teams would eventually trade power plays throughout the period, but the score would remain the same after 20 minutes. The Saints would also trail in shots at the end of the first 16-9.
The Saints would return the favour, scoring first in the second period as McKay Hayes would cut the lead to 2-1. The teams would again battle back and forth, trading odd man chances, but the score would carry over to the next period. The Saints would still trail in total shots by 21-16, but would edge out the Thunder 7-5 for shots in the second period.
The third period featured an unsuccessful Saints power play that would provide the momentum needed for Spruce Grove to challenge the Thunders lead. Through the first 10 minutes the Saints would outshoot the Thunder 9-4 to tie the shots at 25. Palmer would also come up with a few huge and timely saves to keep the game within one. Big hits would be the story in the later half of the period, both teams would bring the intensity to another level. Mason Marcellus would eventually get the insurance marker and his second goal of the game to bring the Thunder lead to 3-1 with five minutes to go in the game. In the end, the Saints just could not solve Ward and wind up dropping this game by a final score of 4-1 after an empty net goal by Dylan Price.
Saints will look to win the series tomorrow night at 7:00pm. Fans can catch all the action on the Saints Radio Network (mixlr.com/sprucegrovesaints), and on HockeyTV starting at 6:45pm.