Saints Fall 6-2 to Crusaders
By: Adam Kulak
After a big offensive game, the night before, the Saints were held to just 2 goals on 35 shots as the Sherwood Park Crusaders take care of business on home ice with a 6-2 win. Tyler Palmer made several good saves in his relief appearance and Biro and Trentham would each score for the Saints. Same lineup as last night except Ross Roloson would come back in on defense and Brett Trentham would move back up to forward, replacing Luigi Benincasa.
First Period
There wasn?t a lot happening for both teams for most of the first period. The shots were only 5 a piece for the first 10-12 minutes of this game. Sherwood Park had all three powerplays in the period, but the Saints were able to kill all three of them off.
But that would soon change in the last 5 minutes of the period, and not in the way that the Saints would have liked. Nicholas Magis would get the scoring started as he beat Max Duchesne off the rush to get things started here in the first 20 minutes. Before the goal was even finished being announced, Arjun Atwal would find the back of the net just 30 seconds later as the Crusaders really started to open the game up.
The Saints unfortunately wouldn?t be able to escape the period down by just two, as Arjun Atwal would get his 2nd of the night with a wrister from the high slot, that goal would come with just a minute left. Just like the last meeting with Sherwood Park, the opening period would end with a 3-0 deficit for the Saints to overcome. Shots in the period were 11-8 for the Crusaders as the Saints look for another comeback performance here on the road.
Second Period
The Crusaders would get a goal early in the period to stretch their lead to 4. The puck came loose in the crease off a shot and Blake Sydlowski would bang it in on the doorstep just 2 minutes into the middle frame.
The Saints fired a bunch of shots on Jordan Frey in the period, outshooting them 12-6. They came close several times to getting on the board, Seth Fyten had a great backhand chance on the breakaway and the Saints had two powerplay chances back to back. They couldn?t capitalize on either powerplay, but they would finally break through in the last minute of the period.
Ryan Conroy would skate the puck into the zone and leave it for Jordan Biro as he rips one top right over the blocker of Jordan Frey to break the goose egg. The Saints had a better period in the second as they were limiting Sherwood Park a lot more and held them to just 6 shots.
Shots in the game were 20-17 for the Saints after 40 minutes of play as they look to stage a comeback effort in the final frame.
Third Period
The comeback effort would not be enough in this one, Brett Trentham would get the Saints a goal at the 8-minute mark of the period, but they were unable to generate enough high danger chances for most of the third period.
Jacob Kendall would score early on the powerplay and would also add the empty netter as the Crusaders take this one by a 6-2 score. Sherwood Park?s offense was clicking early and often in this game and the Saints with a depleted roster just couldn?t manage to hold them off enough in this game. They outshot the Crusaders 27-11 in the final two periods but not enough of them were threatening enough to score and make this a closer game. The Saints will look to rest up, get healthy and bounce back Tuesday night as they are in Drayton Valley to take on the Thunder, puck drop is 7:00PM at the Drayton Valley Omni plex.