Saints Rout Storm 6-1 for 3rd Straight Win
By: Adam Kulak
The fans at the Grant Fuhr Arena were treated to a terrific display of offense this afternoon. The Saints were all over the offensive zone, created chance after chance and they put up 6 goals on 48 shots here at the Grant Fuhr Arena. Seth Fyten would score in his return to the lineup as well as Gamache, Cooley, Leyer, Klassen and Edwards would all find the back of the net. Matt Davis also stopped 26 of 27 shots that came his way for his 25th victory on the season.
First Period
The Saints had several good scoring chances to start this game, their forecheck was strong early and they got a good amount of offensive zone time. As a result of this, they were able to create cross ice passes and they generated shots from great areas to score.
They kept this going and would open the scoring halfway through the period, Ryan Peckford would add to his highlight collection with a great move around one Storm defender. He then fed it over to Graham Gamache on the cross crease and he would berry it on Lars Kaliel to get things rolling here at home. The Saints were not quite done there, a few minutes later on the powerplay, Ethan Edwards would extend the lead as he blasts one from the point to make it 2-0 with 7 minutes to play in the period.
The Saints put themselves in a good position, but they sure made things hard on themselves late in the period. With under 4 minutes to play the Saints would take a double minor for high sticking and then a roughing call just seconds later, giving the Storm a 5 on 3 for almost the rest of the period.
They denied a few chances, but the Storm eventually were able to break through on a cross ice pass as Brody Dale would finish to cut the lead in half. That?s the only goal they would manage on the powerplay as the Saints were able to kill the rest of the double minor off and head into the locker room with a 2-1 lead. Shots were 15-11 for the Saints after 20 minutes of play going into the second.
Second Period
It was a longer than expected period due to the stanchions needing repairs, but it was still a great period for the Saints. They kept Grande Prairie to just 3 shots for the majority of the period and they dominated with the puck on their stick. Stanley Cooley would make it 3-1 on another powerplay chance as he redirected Ryan Peckford?s shot to give the Saints Back the two-goal lead.
Later in the period, Cam Mitchell would spring Tanner Klassen on an odd man rush, and he would snipe low glove on Lars Kaliel to extend the Saints lead to 4-1. They just kept building momentum after that goal and threw a ton at Lars Kaliel the next few shifts. They could?ve had more than 4 goals as they created several dangerous looks.
Things looked like they might go a bit sideways late in the period again as the Saints took 3 straight minor penalties and gave the Storm another 5 on 3 advantage to try and get back in it. However, the Saints put on a terrific display of penalty killing, only giving the Storm 5 shots over each powerplay and kept them to the outside as much as possible. The chances that did get through Matt Davis was there to turn aside all of them to keep this a 4-1 game.
The Saints would finish off a very strong second period and hold a 4-1 lead after 40 minutes. Shots are 30-19 for the Saints so far in his game as they head into the final frame of this game.
Third Period
It was a similar story in the third period compared to the second as the Saints continued to control the play. They knew this was Grande Prairie?s 3rd game in 3 days and 2nd in less than 24 hours. The Storm were going to be fatigued coming in and they made sure to take advantage of that this afternoon.
The Saints would add two more late in the period as Seth Fyten would pick the corner from the slot giving the Saints a 5-1 lead. Nick Leyer would jam the puck in on the doorstep a few minutes later as the Saints roll to a big 6-1 win over the Grande Prairie Storm.
It was a very good performance from top to bottom in this game, the Saints put up 48 shots and they generated dangerous chance after dangerous chance. They didn?t give Grande Prairie a whole lot in this game outside of powerplays. The Saints did a good job of taking away Grande Prairies space to use their speed in transition. They were also getting out of their zone cleanly and moving up ice well. They struggled with that Friday night in Lloydminster, but it was much better this afternoon.
The Saints are back in action this Wednesday as they hit the road to take on the Bonnyville Pontiacs. You can listen on the Saints radio network and puck drop is 7:00 PM.