Blades drop key divisional tilt at home to Wheat Kings

The Brandon Wheat Kings were simply too much to handle for the Saskatoon Blades Wednesday night at the SaskTel Centre.

Brandon jumped out to a quick lead, and never looked back, topping the Blades 5-1.

It took just six minutes for the Wheat Kings to get on the board, doing so on the man advantage with Cole Reinhardt’s 26th of the year. Brandon then got the eventual game-winner 11 minutes later with Braden Schneider’s sixth of the campaign.

In the second frame, Brandon made sure the thought of a Saskatoon comeback was extinguished quickly. Connor Gutenberg scored his 11th of the year just 12 seconds into the period. Ridly Greig then notched his first of two on the night with just over two minutes remaining in the period, making the score 4-0 heading to the second intermission.

The Blades did get one back on Brandon in the third period. Nolan Kneen scored his 11th of the year on a breakaway, creating the only blemish of Brandon goaltender Jiri Patera’s 22 save performance.

Greig’s second of the night, and 20th of the season, came just under ten minutes later. The fifth goal was more than enough for the Wheat Kings, who improved to 28-19-3-2 on the season.

Saskatoon fell to 27-21-2-3 for 2019-20.

The loss ended up costing the Blades a chance to leapfrog Brandon in the tight East Division playoff race. Both teams came in with 59 points on the year, with Brandon holding a game in hand on Saskatoon, sitting in third and fourth, respectively.

The Blades still control much of their destiny with 15 games remaining in their season. They are up on the third wild-card spot holders in the Regina Pats by 18 points following Wednesday’s loss.

The Blades will have an opportunity for revenge on the Wheaties, as Wednesday’s set back was the first game of a tough home-and-home with their neighbours to the east. The rematch goes Friday in Brandon at 7:30 p.m.