Saskatoon Blades' Kyle Crnkovic defends against Red Deer Rebels' Arshdeep Bains (Red Deer Rebels/Rob Wallator)

By Alessia Proietti

Two time win against the Blades

Rebels slash Blades in 5-3 win

Feb 18, 2022 | 11:47 PM

The Red Deer Rebels did not let their shut out loss to the Edmonton Oil Kings last week keep them down this week, as they slashed through the Saskatoon Blades in a 5-3 win at the Peavey Mart Centrium Friday night.

Still fighting for first place in the WHL’s Central Division, Friday’s match followed a game postponed against the Oil Kings on Tuesday. The Rebels last played the Blades on Feb. 5, and came out with a 6-1 victory.

In an intense first period, the Rebels broke the ice with Arshdeep Bains scoring at 8:44 on goaltender Nolan Maier. His 24^th goal this season was assisted by Ben King and Jackson van de Leest.

Not long afterwards, the Blades’ Brandon Lisowsky scored his 25^th goal of the season on Rebels netminder Connor Ungar. The goal came at 11:05 with Trevor Wong assisting to tie the game 1-1.

Both teams managed only five shots on goal each after 20 minutes of play.

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In the second period, Red Deer’s Kalan Lind scored his 10^th goal of the season on the power play following a roughing penalty to Saskatoon’s Rhett Rhinehart. The goal was assisted by Christoffer Sedoff and Arshdeep Bains at 6:40.

The Rebels then expanded on their 2-1 lead when Ben King scored his 35th goal of the season at 7:57 to make it 3-1 Red Deer. Arshdeep Bains assisted on the power play goal following a tripping penalty to the Blades’ Brandon Lisowsky.

The Blades fought back, however, when Egor Sidorov scored his 15^th goal this season at 8:27. Trevor Wong assisted on the play, making it 3-2 Red Deer.

Then with the Rebels Liam Keeler in the box for high sticking, Saskatoon’s Brandon Lisowsky scored his second goal of the night and 26th of the season to tie the game at 3-3. Kyle Crnkovic and Aidan De La Gorgendiere assisted on the power play goal at 13:09.

Shots on goal were 19-11 for Red Deer after 40 minutes.

In a hard fought third period, the Rebels Arshdeep Bains scored his second of the game and 25th of the season at 9:12 to make it 4-3 Red Deer. Jhett Larson assisted on what would prove to be the game winning goal.

To insure the win though, Red Deer’s Jace Isley took advantage of an empty net, scoring his 10th goal of the season at 19:22 to make it a 5-3 final. Liam Keeler earned the assist.

Red Deer outshot Saskatoon 10-6 in the third period for a three period total of 29-17 in favour of the Rebels.

Both teams took advantage of power play opportunities this game, with the Rebels going 2/4 and the Blades 1/3.

The third star of the night was given to the Rebels’ Talon Brigley, while the second star went to Saskatoon’s Brandon Lisowsky for his two goals on the evening. The first was awarded to Red Deer’s Arshdeep Bains for his four point night, notching two goals and two assists.

The win brings the Rebels’ record to 30-15-2-1 with 63 points, while the loss drops the Blades to 26-17-1-1 and 54 points.

The Rebels return to home ice Saturday night to host the Winnipeg ICE. Faceoff is at 7 p.m. with the live broadcast on 106.7 REWIND radio starting at 6:30 p.m.