SATURDAY SPORTS PAGE: PATS FACING ELIMINATION
Photo: Saskatoon Blades
SASKATOON – Egor Sidorov scored twice, Trevor Wong added two assists and the home team finally won a game as the Saskatoon Blades defeated the visiting Regina Pats 4-2 to take a 3-2 lead in their best-of-seven Western Hockey League playoff series.
Vaughn Watterodt and Conner Roulette also scored for the Blades, who outshot the Pats 25-16 at SaskTel Centre. Aidan De La Gorgendiere chipped in with two assists.
Connor Bedard scored both goals for the Pats, his ninth and 10th of the series. Stanislav Svozil and Alexander Suzdalev each had two assists. The Pats trailed 2-1 after the first period and 3-1 heading into the third.
Both teams went 1-for-2 on the power play.
The Pats won the first two games of the series in Saskatoon 6-1 and 6-5 (overtime), then the Blades took the next two games in Regina, both by 4-3 overtime decisions.
Game 6 is Saturday in Regina.
REBELS 6 HITMEN 5 (OT)
Red Deer wins best-of-seven series 4-1
RED DEER, Alta. – Ben King scored at 4:56 of overtime to give the Red Deer Rebels a 6-5 victory over the visiting Calgary Hitmen and allowed the host squad to wrap up their best-of-seven playoff series in five games.
Mats Lindgren scored twice and added an assist for the Rebels, who outshot the Hitmen 44-24. Kalan Lind, Matteo Fabrizi and Christoffer Sedoff also scored for the Rebels. Ben King chipped in with three assists.
Maxim Muranov scored twice for the Hitmen, while David Adaszynski, Brandon Whynott and Oliver Tulk netted singles.
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SILVERTIPS 5 WINTERHAWKS 0
Portland leads best-of-seven series 3-1
EVERETT, Wash. – Caden Zaplitny had a goal and assist as the Everett Silvertips defeated the visiting Portland Winterhawks 4-0 to stay alive in their best-of-seven playoff series.
Beau Courtney, Jackson Berezowski, Roan Woodward and Austin Roest also scored for the Silvertips, who trail the first-round series 3-1 with Game 5 set for Saturday in Portland, Ore. Jesse Heslop chipped in with two assists.
The Silvertips outshot the Winterhawks 25-15 as Tyler Palmer made 15 saves to record the shutout.
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COUGARS 6 AMERICANS 2
Prince George leads best-of-seven series 3-2
KENNEWICK, Wash. – Caden Brown’s goal at 8:01 of the third period snapped a 2-2 deadlock and eventually lifted the visiting Prince George Cougars to a 5-2 victory over the Tri-City Americans.
The Cougars grabbed a 3-2 lead in the first-round, best-of-seven playoff series, with Game 6 (Sunday) and Game 7 (Tuesday), if necessary, back in Prince George, B.C.
Bauer Dumanski and Zac Funk each scored twice for the Cougars, including an empty-netter, while Cole Dubinsky netted a single. The Cougars trailed 1-0 after the first period but were tied 2-2 heading into the third.
Jake Sloan and Reese Belton scored for the Americans, who were outshot 34-28 at the Toyota Center.
POKE CHECKS: The Winnipeg ICE, Moose Jaw Warriors, Seattle Thunderbirds and Kamloops Blazers, who will host and play in the 2023 Memorial Cup May 26 to June 4, all swept their first-round, best-of-seven series.
SJHL ROUND 2
Flin Flon 3 Humboldt 1 (Bombers win series in five)
*Bombers, Battlefords Stars to meet in SJHL Final
THE REST …
Bo Bichette’s three-run home run in the top of the seventh inning powered the visiting Toronto Blue Jays past the Los Angeles Angels 4-3 in the home opener for the California squad. Pitcher Chris Bassitt, who struggled in the first inning for the Blue Jays, found his groove in the second and ended up working six innings of two-hit, five strikeout ball to get his first win of the season. The Jays have won four straight and are now 5-and-3.
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Today marks the first 16-game day in NHL history as all 32 teams are in action. Key matchups for Canadian squads include the Winnipeg Jets hosting the Nashville Predators, and the Calgary Flames visiting the Vancouver Canucks. Other games include the Edmonton Oilers visiting the San Jose Sharks, the Ottawa Senators hosting the Tampa Bay Lightning, and the Toronto Maple Leafs entertaining the Montreal Canadiens.
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It was a real Good Friday for Brad Gushue’s Team Canada crew and their vocal fans at the world men’s curling championship in Ottawa. Gushue beat Turkey 9-5 and Sweden 8-5 to finish the round-robin portion of the 13-country event in fourth place with a 9-and-3 record. Canada and Sweden will square off again Saturday in a qualification game. The winner advances to the semifinals. Top-seeded Yannick Schwaller of Switzerland and Number-2 seed Bruce Mouat of Scotland earned direct berths to the semis.
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Sam Hauser scored a career-high 26 points and the Boston Celtics easily cruised past Toronto to a 121-102 victory. Jayson Tatum finished with 21 points and sat out the entire second half as the Celtics posted a 4-0 sweep in the season series. Pascal Siakam led Toronto with 19 points. With the loss, the ninth-place Raptors will host the 10th-place Chicago Bulls on Wednesday in an NBA play-in game.
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Brooks Koepka is a force in the majors again. He played bogey-free in the Masters for a 67 on Friday and leads by four shots over players who finished before storms arrived and cut the day’s action short. The wind toppled three pine trees near the 17th tee where spectators were standing. Augusta National says no one was hurt. Koepka leads by four over U-S Amateur champion Sam Bennett. Jon Rahm was three strokes behind with nine holes to play. Tiger Woods is hovering around the cut line.
(Canadian Press)
Pats are a one pony show. The rest of that team besides Floater Boy are average. Blades throw three equal lines at em and pressure the Pats zone in the corners and behind the net. In the meantime Floater Boy Conner floats around with 0 help in the corners. He’s a big time floater. Ya, he scores all their goals but the other stat is he was on the ice for 2 of the Blades goals. He helps 0 on backchecking and 0 in the corners. Hence Floater boy. He gets touched or hit to the ice and he comes… Read more »
My guess is to get up that early to write something like that. – demons within you are very strong. You’re staring at possibly a life partner you abhor and the feeling is mutual. The career success never happened, and you’re financially drowning or barely getting by. That’s the type of individual that would be a critic over teenage boys doing their best. I’ll leave you with an excerpt former President Teddy Roosevelt gave – it’s with regards to why the Critic like this loser doesn’t count. “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out… Read more »
Ha ha ha. I bet you’re a psychology major who is unemployed. Got ya! Can’t argue the Pats are a one dimensional team, look at the stats. By the way stop by Vegraville for a nice plate of Perogie with mushroom gravy. Now that’s good eatin . Throw on a couple links of kubasah. Even better
For once I agree with Obama. These are just kids and they are putting their best effort forward. I too will be at the game this evening and win or lose I’ll be cheering hard. They are all basically teenage kids. Shame on you perogie
Well said!
……perhaps start by spelling Vegreville correctly……..just sayin’…….
One more game and then 5+ years of mediocrity incoming. Should have traded him.. unbelievable.
Nobody wanted him. Not worth the cost to burden your franchise with a poor trade and give up a couple real good players. Like I said, one dimensional and get used to it, he will be owned in the NHL by good two way players