Saints Rout Storm 6-0 in Game 2
By: Adam Kulak
Powerplay goals, powerplay goals, and more powerplay goals, that was the story of Game 2 here at the Grant Fuhr Arena. After a bit of a slow start, the Saints torched the Storm on the man advantage and road their way to a huge 6-0 victory, taking a 2-0 series lead on Home ice. Werenka, Fyten (2), Hall, Leyer and Klassen would score for the Saints and Matt Davis was rock solid once again with a 35 save shutout.
Lineup changes for tonight featured Brecon Wood and Michael Bladon coming back into the lineup, replacing Reid Schaefer and Logan Acheson. With Lars Kaliel between the pipes at the other end, let?s get right to the action of Game 2.
First Period
In the first few minutes of the game, it was clear that Grande Prairie was unhappy with the way Game 1 ended. The Saints were a bit sloppy in the early going and the Storm came out very strong to start this game. They came out with a lot of speed, forcing the Saints into making mistakes and pushing them back defensively. As well as the Storm played, the Saints didn?t play the way they wanted to start this game and Matt Davis was strong in net to keep this a 0-0 game.
The good news is that the Saints didn?t break and when they got their opportunities, they took advantage. On their second powerplay of the period, Tanner Klassen would snipe on over the glove right off the faceoff to give the Saints the first goal of the game. Both teams would get two powerplays in the period, the Saints would win the special teams battle and they would take a 1-0 lead into the intermission because of it. Shots in the period were 14-7 for the Storm, but the Saints would strike first in Game 2.
Second Period
The middle frame was a different story for the Saints as they were the better team in the second. Grande Prairie took a lot of undisciplined penalties last game and it was the same story tonight. The difference being the Saints made them pay a lot more tonight, as they would surpass their powerplay goal total from last night in one single period.
3:30 into the period, Seth Fyten would walk in on their first powerplay and beat Lars Kaliel to give the Saints a 2-0 lead. That would kickstart the powerplay floodgates, 2 minutes later on the Saints second powerplay of the period, Seth Fyten would get a piece of Nick Leyer?s shot for his 2nd of the game to extend the lead to 3-0.
And just for good measure, Nick Leyer would rip a shot past Lars Kaliel a minute later on powerplay #3, making it a 4-0 game under 7 minutes into the second period. I can?t remember the last time the Saints scored on three straight powerplays in a span of three minutes, but the playoffs are not a bad time at all to do it. That?s how the period would end, shots were 20-10 for the Saints in that period and 27-24 overall.
Third Period
The Saints came out and scored two goals early in the period to really put this game away. Olson Werenka would sneak in from the point and put home the rebound to make it 5-0 two minutes into the period. To top it all off, Adam Hall would jam in the loose puck in front of the net to make it a 6-0 game just under 8 minutes in.
The rest of the period was just the Saints shutting things down defensively. Grande Prairie had a couple dangerous chances but when they did, Matt Davis was there to turn away all 35 shots for his 2nd shutout this season. It was a well-rounded offensive effort tonight, with 4 players having multi point games and 9 players who chipped in on the scoresheet.
As the time ran down, the Saints would preserve the shutout and take a 2-0 lead in the series, with a 6-0 rout of the Grande Prairie Storm. Grande Prairie has a lot of speed and they showed it in this game, as they played well at even strength in this game. The biggest difference was if you take a lot of penalties and give up 4 powerplay goals then it?s hard to have success. After a bit of a cold powerplay in Game 1, the Saints powerplay exploded in this game and that paved the way towards a big offensive night.
The Saints will now hit the road tomorrow, for Games 3 and 4 up in Grande Prairie. Puck drop is 7:30 PM on Wednesday night as the Saints look to take a strangle hold on this series.