The Saskatoon Blades won their thirteenth game on the season with a 3-1 road victory over the Swift Current Broncos on Sunday night.Jyri Niemi (Hameenkyro, Finland), Travis Toomey (Leduc, AB), and Gaelan Patterson (Saskatoon, SK) got the Blades' goals in the victory.
Niemi broke a nine-game scoreless drought when he opened the scoring 2:47 into the first period. The third-year rearguard made a move around a Swift Current defender and snapped a shot past a screened Morgan Clark into the Broncos' net to make it 1-0.
The Blades held their one-goal lead until the 5:00 minute mark of the third period when Toomey tipped a backhand shot from Jeremy Boyer (Saskatoon, SK) that managed to dribble across the line for his 5th of the season.
The Broncos pulled within one while on the power play at the 9:34 mark of the third period as overage forward Michael Stickland scored his 6th on the campaign.
Patterson scored an insurance marker with just over four minutes remaining in the third after taking a feed from Walker Wintoneak (Flin Flon, MB) inside the Broncos' zone for his 8th of the season.
Steven Stanford (Calgary, AB), starting his second straight game in the Blades' net, made 25 saves on 26 shots sent his way to claim the victory between the pipes. At the other end of the ice, Clark turned aside 23 of 26 shots in the loss.
Final score Saskatoon 3, Swift Current 1.
With the victory, the Blades improve to 13-3-0-2 for 28 points and now have moved into sole position of first overall in the Western Hockey League. The win gives the Blades a sweep of the three games in three nights' weekend, was the team's fifth consecutive overall, and is the eleventh win in the last twelve games. The Broncos, meanwhile, fall to 9-8-0-1 for 19 points on the season.
The Blades return to Credit Union Centre on Tuesday for a battle against the Moose Jaw Warriors. Game time is 7:05 pm. Tickets are available online at ticketmaster.ca, by calling 938-7800, or by visiting any Ticketmaster location.
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