By Aaron Mahoney (@Mahones93 on Twitter)

Hurricanes road trip opens up with 6-4 loss to Blades

Feb 26, 2019 | 8:08 PM

SASKATOON, SK – The first game of a four-game road trip for the Lethbridge Hurricanes started on the wrong foot on Tuesday, Feb. 26, as they dropped a 6-4 decision to the Saskatoon Blades.

The Hurricanes started the game on time, outshooting the Blades early in the period and that start would pay off a little past the two-minute mark.

On the powerplay, Jake Leschyshyn set up Nick Henry who beat Saskatoon starting goaltender Nolan Maier to give Lethbridge a 1-0 lead.

Saskatoon didn’t take long answering, however, when they evened the score 1-1 at 3:31 thanks to a Kyle Crnkovic goal.

That was all the offense in the opening frame, with the Hurricanes holding a 15-10 shot advantage after 20 minutes of play.

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Saskatoon would get the jump on Lethbridge early in the 2nd period with Igor Merezhko in the box for cross-checking near the end of the 1st period.

Gary Haden put one past Lethbridge netminder Carl Tetachuk to give the Blades their first lead of the evening.

Later in the frame, this time with Ty Prefontaine in the box for cross-checking, the Blades powerplay would go back to work. Chase Wouters eventually got the 3-1 goal, coming at 12:19.

The Blades really locked it down in the 2nd, limiting the Hurricanes to just nine shots while getting 12 of their own on Tetachuk.

Lethbridge would claw back into this one in the 3rd period, led by Jake Elmer who scored his 32nd of the year extending his current goal streak to nine games while cutting the deficit to 3-2.

The Hurricanes rode the momentum from that goal until a few minutes later when Logan Barlage tied it up at 3-3 at 11:23.

The tie wouldn’t last long, as under 20 seconds later Ryan Hughes put Saskatoon back on top 4-3 just like that.

A quick strike would give the Blades their two-goal lead back when Kirby Dach scored at 13:52 of the 3rd period to make it 5-3.

Taylor Ross’ 31st of the season brought the Hurricanes back to within one at 5-4 with under four minutes to play, but the Blades would bury an empty net goal to lock down the 6-4 final a few minutes later.

The Hurricanes loss wasn’t for a lack of effort, they outshot the Blades 39-29, including 15-7 in the final period. Special teams weren’t as good a story, Saskatoon finished 2-for-3 on the powerplay while Lethbridge went 1-for-3 with the man advantage.

The Hurricanes record drops to 32-18-5-5 with the loss, but they still hold down second place in the Central Division by six points.

Lethbridge is in Prince Albert tomorrow night (Feb. 27) to face the WHL leading Raiders.