Emotional swings which would make a Hollywood writer smile have been a regular occurrence on home ice for the Saskatoon Blades.
That was the case Wednesday night, hosting the Red Deer Rebels with a late goal from Tyler Parr to force overtime, only to fall in a five-round shootout.
The Blades have recorded a point in 19 straight regular season games dating back to March 1 of the 2023-24 season, but that notion is providing little comfort to head coach Dan DaSilva.
“We didn’t deserve to win that game. They outplayed us, they outworked us and that doesn’t sit well with us.”
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Leading 3-1 in the early stages of the third period Wednesday, the Blades would allow three straight Red Deer goals to give the Rebels the lead with just over five minutes left on the clock.
Parr would score off a rebound with 1:19 remaining in the game to get it to overtime, however the damage had already been done.
“Losing a lead in the third like that is never something you want to do,” said Parr. “We pride ourselves on having the third period being our best and that wasn’t our best tonight. We got to regroup and get ready for Saturday.”
Despite the loss, some history was made earlier in the night with overage forward Brandon Lisowsky scoring the 250th point of his five-year WHL career just 16 seconds into the game.
Not only did Lisowsky hit the milestone with the tally, he moved past Hockey Hall of Famer and St. Louis Blues legend Bernie Federko into eighth in the franchise’s all-time goal list with the 134th of his career.
Saskatoon still has yet to lose a game at home in regulation this season, seeing their record fall to 11-0-1-1 on the year after the shootout loss to Red Deer.
It’s a streak which has them four points clear of first place in the Eastern Conference with 37 points, a feat Parr credits to the atmosphere generated by fans walking through the doors of SaskTel Centre.
“We’ve come here and the fans are amazing,” said Parr. “We get up for the game every night. They make it really easy on us to get excited and have energy for the games. It’s showed in our record at home so far.”
The Blades will have a chance at extending that point streak on home ice to 20 consecutive regular season games on Saturday, as Saskatoon hosts the Calgary Hitmen at 7:00 p.m.
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