WHL Saskatoon Blades

Game Preview: Blades at Pats

Published on April 20, 2021 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Saskatoon Blades News Release


Saskatoon Blades (14-2-2-1) @ Regina Pats (7-9-2-1)

Date | Time Tuesday, April 20th | 6:00pm MT

Place Brandt Centre, Regina, SK

Video Stream WHL Live

Radio 98 COOL FM | Pre-Game Show w/ Les Lazaruk @ 5:30pm MT

Mobile App Apple | Android

What's Next Thursday, April 22nd vs. Prince Albert Raiders (4:00pm MT)

Social Media @BladesHockey| Facebook | Instagram

Tonight

The Saskatoon Blades (14-2-2-1) begin the final five games of the regular season, battling the Regina Pats (7-9-2-1) for the last time at the Subway WHL Hub.

The Blades are in a heated race for first place in the East Division, currently sitting one point back of the top-spot Brandon Wheat Kings with one game in hand.

Saskatoon enters the Brandt Centre freshly rested after two off-days, but are coming off a 3-2 shootout setback to the lowly Swift Current Broncos. Meanwhile, Regina battled to a 4-3 victory over the Prince Albert Raiders on Sunday night, snapping a three-game losing skid.

Tale of the Tape

The Blades hold a sizable advantage over the Pats this season, boasting an undefeated 3-0-0-0 record and outscoring Regina 17-7.

For Saskatoon, this is the second meeting against Regina in three games. Their most recent victory actually came against Regina by a 4-1 score last Thursday, led by a four points (3G-1A) performance from defenceman Rhett Rhinehart.

Digging into special teams, Saskatoon holds a very narrow edge on the powerplay (20.9% to 20.8%) this season, but are far more successful on the penalty kill at 84.6% compared to 77.6%.

Dating back to the 2019-20 season, Saskatoon has won six straight over Regina, with their last loss coming in a shootout on February 5th, 2020.

Who to Watch

Defenceman Charlie Wright collected his first career goal and added an assist in the Blades 3-2 shootout loss to Swift Current. The Olds, AB product is up to five points (1G-4A) on the campaign and sits fifth on the team with a +9 rating.

Finesse forward Kyle Crnkovic is riding an eight-game point streak, scoring 4 goals and 9 assists over that time. The Chestermere, AB product has assists in all eight games, including a pair of helpers most recently against the Broncos. Leading the team in scoring with 27 points (8G-19A), Crnkovic sits tied for fifth in the league scoring race and has the third-most points.

Defenceman Rhett Rhinehart is working on a four-game point-streak, and notched his first career hat-trick against the Pats last Thursday.

COMPLETE GAME NOTES PACKAGE

Higher for Maier

Veteran goaltender Nolan Maier continues to re-write the history books this season, not only setting a new record for most career wins (86) but also matching Andrey Makarov for most shutouts as a Blade (9).

The latter came last night, when the Yorkton, SK native stopped all 27 shots to lead the Blades to a 3-0 victory over the Swift Current Broncos.

Maier currently leads the East Division in wins (10), and is 26 starts away from catching Braden Holtby's record for most games played (177).

Ecologik Game Day 50/50...

24 games mean 24 chances to win a hefty cash prize through our Ecologik Game Day 50/50!

Purchase your tickets online beginning 1 hour prior to puck drop for every Blades game during the 2021 season. Participants must be of legal age to purchase and live in the Saskatoon area to purchase. Tickets are:

1 for $10

10 for $20

30 for $30

You know the drill: winner takes half the pot and the other half goes towards the Saskatoon Blades Player Education Fund.

Need to Know Love winning as much as we do? Download the Blades official mobile app, powered by SaskTel, and try your hand at some of our in-app games!

You have the chance to win a Hockey Gives Blood prize pack if you correctly predict the player who scores our first goal! Or put your puzzle-solving skills to the test with our photo scramble, featuring a new player and photo every game day.

The Blades official app has so much more to offer, giving our fans a new, interactive way to engage with their favourite team this season. It's available to download on Apple and Android devices!

Check out the Saskatoon Blades Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Western Hockey League Stories from April 20, 2021


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central