By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

very special teams

Blades ‘toon up Rebels, handing Red Deer second straight loss

Jan 7, 2023 | 8:54 PM

The Red Deer Rebels have hit a bit of a wall after coming out gangbusters from the holiday break.

On Saturday night in Saskatoon, Red Deer lost 6-2 to the Blades, a night after dropping a 2-1 decision in Prince Albert.

In four previous games since Dec. 27, the Rebels went 4-0, outscoring their opponents (EDM 2x, CGY 2x) 22-7.

Coming in, Red Deer was 26-7-1-3, second in the Central Division, tied-first in the Eastern Conference; meantime, Saskatoon was sporting an impressive 25-6-2-1 record, good enough for second in the East Division, and third in the Eastern Conference — just three points back of Red Deer. That deficit is now one point, while idle Winnipeg sit tied in points with Red Deer, though with five games in hand.

This season, the teams had met once, back on Dec. 2 in Red Deer, where the Blades won 4-3 in overtime. They’ll play twice more, Jan. 27 in Red Deer, and Mar. 1 in Saskatoon.

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Scoring summary

Goals came in a flurry late in the first period, with Lukas Hansen (6th) giving the Blades a 1-0 lead at 13:20.

Ryker Singer (4th), who was just acquired by Red Deer in a trade this week, scored on the power play at 15:52 to tie things.

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But just 29 seconds later, Saskatoon was back in front as Conner Roulette (16th) got the puck past Rhett Stoesser for the lead at the break.

In the second, it was all Saskatoon.

Vaughn Watterodt (16th) scored the eventual game-winner on the power play at 3:06 for a 3-1 lead. Trevor Wong (12th) scored at 6:32 making it 4-1, and then Egor Sidorov (18th) got another with the man advantage at 14:05.

Up 5-1 to start the third, the Blades’ Wong (13th) tallied again on the power play at 5:32.

Singer (5th) got his second as a Rebel, once again up a man, at 14:36, but it was far too little, too late, and the game ended 6-2 Blades.

In the crease, Rhett Stoesser (13-4-0-0) takes the L, stopping five of nine before being pulled for Chase Wutzke to come in; Wutzke stopped 16 of 18 in 33:28 of relief. Austin Elliott (14-2-2-0) stopped 27 of 29 at the other end.

Shots

RD: 29

SAS: 27

Power play

RD: 2/7

SAS: 3/7

THREE STARS

1st: Trevor Wong (SAS)

2nd: Conner Roulette (SAS)

3rd: Austin Elliott (SAS)

Next up for Red Deer, the first of two straight home games, this Wednesday, January 11 against Moose Jaw. Puck drop is at 7 with the pre-game live on 106.7 REWIND Radio starting at 6:30.

The Rebels are at the Peavey Mart Centrium again on Friday, Jan. 13 to host the Edmonton Oil Kings, again at 7 p.m.