All tied up: Blades, Warriors resume WHL Eastern Conference final with games Friday and Sunday
Saskatoon has now regained its home-ice advantage with two of the next three possible games to be played at SaskTel Centre, starting Friday night.
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What was a best-of-seven series is about to become a best-of-three.
The Saskatoon Blades needed a goal from sniper Egor Sidorov in overtime Wednesday night in Moose Jaw to even up the Western Hockey League Eastern Conference final with the Moose Jaw Warriors at two games each with three of those four games decided in OT.
Saskatoon has now regained its home-ice advantage with two of the next three possible games to be played at SaskTel Centre.
“I don’t really zoom out like that,” said Blades head coach Brennan Sonne, who continues to stress the game-by-game process and not look too far ahead.
“I think our focus now is just having a great start at home (Friday), learning what we can from (Game 4) and maybe making adjustments here and there. I’m just so in the moment, so I don’t zoom out (ahead).
“I’m just ‘What do I need to do, right now, in this moment?’ ”
Game 5 will be played Friday night, 7 p.m., at SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon. Game 6 goes Sunday afternoon back in Moose Jaw.
On Wednesday, Sidorov scored at the 3:29 mark of overtime to give his team a much-needed 5-4 win over the Warriors before 4,643 fans at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
It was Sidorov’s fourth game-winning goal in these WHL playoffs, setting a Blades franchise record for both a single season and career.
Sidorov found himself behind the Moose Jaw Warriors’ defence after teammate Brandon Lisowsky batted the puck toward him.
For the first time in the series, the team that scored first went on to win Wednesday. That didn’t happen in the three previous games.
The Blades jumped out to an early lead Wednesday, with Lisowsky scoring just 14 seconds into the game and Trevor Wong adding a goal at 1:07. They soon made it 3-zip on a goal by Alexander Suzdalev at 8:32.
The Warriors battled back with two goals of their own in the opening period by Brayden Yager and Jagger Firkus before Tanner Molendyk restored a two-goal cushion for the Blades at 17:52.
In the second period, Yager scored at 1:04 and Rilen Kovacevic notched the equalizer at 9:57.
That’s the way the score stood until Sidorov’s OT heroics.
Evan Gardner stopped 33 shots for Saskatoon, which was out-shot by Moose Jaw 37-24.
“He’s had a really great series,” Sonne said of the rookie Gardner. “He’s played really hard and he’s been competitive.”
Unger made 19 saves for the Warriors, who trailed 4-2 after the first period.
On Tuesday, the Warriors took advantage of home-ice advantage with a 3-1 win over the Blades at the Moose Jaw Events Centre to take a 2-1 lead in the series.
Grayden Siepmann gave the Blades a 1-0 lead midway through the opening period before Atley Calvert knotted the score with a power play marker early in the second.
Martin Rysavy gave the Warriors the lead at 7:14 of the third period and Denton Mateychuk added an empty-net goal, with 1:13 left on the clock, as insurance.
Shots on goal were 32-32; the Blades poured it on in the third with 16 shots on net after being outshot 27-16 through two periods.
Unger made 31 saves for the win. Gardner stopped 29 shots for the Blades in the loss.
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