Sometimes it’s not about how you start, but how you finish. Trailing 2-0 after the first period, the Prince Albert Mintos scored three unanswered goals to defeat the Saskatoon Blazers 3-2 on Sunday afternoon at the Art Hauser Centre.
“Overall, I thought it was a good comeback,” Mintos head coach Tim Leonard said. “We had a good push after the first period to get the win.”
Raiden Zacharias opened the scoring on the powerplay for the Blazers with 7:03 left in the first period. Roger McQueen slipped a pass over to the left circle, and Zacharias ripped a shot blocker side on Jayden Kraus. His ninth goal of the season made it a 1-0 game.
McQueen, selected fourth overall by the Brandon Wheat Kings in this year’s WHL Prospects draft, said he liked the way the Blazers came out to start the game.
“I thought we had most of the play, and most of the shots were ours,” McQueen said. “I thought going up early was a great start for us. It was one of our best periods of the year.”
Blazer captain Hudson Malinoski doubled the lead with 25 seconds left in the period. Tarin Smith sent a lead pass for Malinoski who had a clear lane on a breakaway. Making a move in front of Jayden Kraus, he undressed the Minto goaltender, before slipping a backhand shot in. With the late goal, Saskatoon took a 2-0 lead into the intermission, leading 12-4 in shots as well.
“Our first period wasn’t very good,” Leonard said. “Saskatoon is a good team, and sometimes that gets to these young guys’ heads. They’re a good team, but we’re good too. We just had to go out and work, and I thought the kids answered that very well.”
Travis Swanson entered the second period with goals on his mind, as he scored two in a row to tie the game. First, just 43 seconds into the second period, Zach Bansley fed a pass right to the tape of Swanson in the slot. With all sorts of time to spare, Swanson let a bullet go, and it beat Eric Kahl, cutting the Blazer lead in half.
Bansley connected with Swanson again less than four minutes later. Receiving another nice pass from his linemate, Swanson struck again with a missile of a one timer. His second goal of the contest brought the Mintos right back into it, tying the game at 2-2.
Despite only having ten shots on goal through two periods, Prince Albert found themselves in a 2-2 tie after 40 minutes.
The Mintos found their first lead of the game 13:26 into the third period. An all out scrum ensued in front of the Saskatoon net, and Karson Blanchette fished out the loose puck, jamming it home past Kahl. After trailing 2-0 in the first period, the Mintos stormed back with three unanswered goals to go on top 3-2.
With Kahl on the bench in favour of the extra attacker for the Blazers in the final two minutes of the game, Saskatoon laid on heavy pressure on Kraus. Forced to make save after save, he preserved the one goal lead, and the Mintos were able to survive for the 3-2 come from behind win.
“We had so many chances today,” McQueen added. “We just had some unlucky bounces, but I think we have a good overall takeaway from today. We just couldn’t finish on anything, and (Kraus) played really well for them.”
The Mintos improve to 19-12-0-1 with the win, and Leonard likes how the team has been playing since returning to the ice.
“I’ve really liked the team since we came back from Christmas,” he said. “It seems like they came back with a little zip. It’s like they’ve figured it out, and they know what it takes. We lost a tight one in Warman on Friday where we should’ve deserved a better fate, but that’s how the hockey gods work. Today we got rewarded.”
Prince Albert is back in action on Wednesday in the Battlefords to take on the Stars. That kicks off a three game road trip. They return home on February 2nd for another meeting with the Stars.
@kyle_kosowan•sports@paherald.sk.ca
