Live Blog: Blades vs. K-Wings (2/22)

Have to get this out of the way first. Happy 100th post everyone!

The Blades are playing the final game of the three game series with the Kalamazoo Wings. So far, they have won one and lost the other in overtime. The Blades need to keep the pressure on, every time they have relaxed the K-Wings have taken advantage. They are wearing their special "Pink-in-the-rink" jerseys tonight, here's hoping the special jerseys give them a little something extra...

Most of the first period was a back and forth affair (game sheet here). The Blades were not as aggressive as they should have been. They allowed the K-Wings to dictate a lot more of the play than they should have. They did seem to wake up in the latter half of the period. Elgin Reid scored a goal just seconds after the end of the Blades first power play, Scott Hotham and Chris Beckford-Tseu were credited with the assists. There was a bit of a scuffle at the close of the first, but nothing really resulted. The teams left the ice with the Blades up 1-0, and the shots on goal 14-9 in favor of the Blades.

The second period was quite chaotic at the end. It was pretty quiet for most of the period. It all began with a K-Wing player attempting to take on Brad Zanon, they both got the usual roughing minors. A few seconds later Elgin Reid received a major for slew-footing. A really great example is at the 1:14 mark on this video...



It's a very serious penalty, a player can be seriously injured. Reid will more than likely be hearing from the ECHL tomorrow. The Blades were able to kill off all five minutes of the penalty. A goal by Gajic gave the Blades a very short 2-0 lead. Unfortunately, the K-Wings got one back 11 seconds later to make it 2-1. Benn Olson dominated a K-Wing player for his 11th fight of the year. The Blades left the ice holding on to a one goal lead.

The Blades let the K-Wings dominate most of the third. The K-Wings were able to score two goal and take the lead. Luckily Phil Paquet was able to score a goal at the 17:47 mark to tie it up and eventually force overtime.

It was an intense five minutes of back and forth game, but no one was able to score. That meant it was shoot-out time!

The Blades decided to shoot first...
Gajic- Denied
Cleaver- Scores
Baker- Saved
Curadeau- Wide!
Nicholson- Scores!
Llyod- Kick save Becks!
Guthrie- Goal!
Fournier- Denied
All on Osman... GOAL! Blades win 4-3!

That was an exciting end to an intense game. The Blades really worked hard for that win. They have a whole week off until next Saturday when they take on the South Carolina Stingrays.