Box Score The Saskatchewan Huskies opened the 2023-2024 season with a satisfying 6-1 win at Wayne Fleming Arena in Winnipeg. They were helped along by a four-goal second period and a total of 47 shots on two different Manitoba Bisons goaltenders.
Early in the game, Huskies first-line centre Liam Keeler had the puck on the right wing in a 3-on-1 in the Bisons' zone. His shot went right into Harkness' breadbasket, but Keeler crashed into the end wall, went to the dressing room, and didn't return.
However, Josh Pillar put the Huskies on the board first soon after with the team's first goal of the season. Bisons goaltender Simon Harkness made a big save on Dawson Holt, but Huskies captain Shane Collins then took a shot from the blue line with traffic in front. Pillar put home the rebound to make it 1-0.
Then, with just over seven minutes to go in the first, Saskatchewan winger Carter Stebbings came out of the corner with the puck, turned toward the Manitoba net, and shot from the outside with traffic in front. The long shot seemed to surprise Harkness and got passed him to double the lead.
The Huskies began to feel it and had a few long offensive-zone possessions, forcing Harkness to make a few quick-reaction saves to keep his team in the game.
Less than three minutes into the second period a pass to Hayden Ostir in the slot hopped over his stick and sent the Huskies in a three-on-two the other way. In a bizarre play, Stebbings passed the puck across to Petruic, who fed it back to Stebbings at the last second. He had a wide-open net to make it 3-0 Saskatchewan on his second goal of the game
Then, with Bisons d-man Kian Calder in the box for delay of game (puck-over-glass), the Huskies hemmed the Bisons into their own zone on the powerplay before Holt beat Harkness on a shot from the middle of the blueline. It was the Huskies' 20th shot of the night, just over four minutes into the second period.
Later in the period, Ostir drew a holding call in the Huskies' zone and the Bisons looked solid on the game's first powerplay. Seconds after it ended, Hooker brought the puck to the net with speed and was hooked. This time the Huskies killed it with multiple clearings and even generating a shorthanded two-on-one.
With three minutes left in the frame, Huskies' left-winger Justin Ball slipped away from Evan Toth in the corner and rifled the puck off of Harkness' goal pad. Ben Tkachuk was waiting back-door and slipped it past Harkness to make it 5-0.
With just over a minute left in the middle frame, the Huskies had a long offensive-zone possession that ended with defenceman Ty Prefontaine coming in from the blue line, picking up the puck, and driving to the net from the side before flipping it past Harkness. That would be it for Harkness in the game, as Bisons head coach Gord Burnett, in his first regular-season game as bench boss, swapped Harkness out of the net in favour of Kolby Thornton.
In the third, the Bisons picked up momentum. Penalties to Gottfried and Jaxan Kaluski resulted in four-on-four play. Immediately after, a penalty was called for tripping on Prefontaine, resulting in a four-on-three powerplay for the Bisons.
The Bisons profited from the extra room on the ice with a goal by Chase Hartje. The defenceman had the puck at the point, passed to Hooker in the circle, drove to the net, and took a return pass in front. He then shot it past Huskies goaltender Jordan Kooy for the Bisons' first goal of the season.
It was a good period for Thornton, who didn't allow a goal and made 19 saves, including an impressive side-to-side blocker stop on a penalty kill. He will start in net in the rematch Friday afternoon.
"He looked good in the 20 minutes he played tonight. We'll see how he looks in the full game tomorrow," said Bisons head coach Gordon Burnett after the game about.
Hooker, the Bisons' captain, was optimistic looking ahead to tomorrow after tonight's third period. "I think we were moving the puck quick which was good. We were being physical and hemming them in their zone and getting more chances," he said. "There's a lot of good things we can bring. But I think the biggest thing is moving the puck quick and catching them on their toes, rather than being on our toes."
The Friday-afternoon rematch is slated for 2:30 p.m.
