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The Winnipeg Ice won Game 1 for the third straight playoff series.
The Ice took the early series lead in the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship with a 3-0 victory over the Saskatoon Blades in Game 1 of the best-of-seven series at the Wayne Fleming Arena on Friday.
The Ice scored goals less than two minutes apart in the opening period and cruised to the series-opening win.
Daniel Hauser recorded his first shutout of the playoffs as he needed to make just 16 saves in the Game 1 victory.
Ben Zloty, Zack Ostapchuk, and Carson Lambos found the scoresheet to begin the third-round series. Ostapchuk scored on a penalty shot for their second marker of the contest after Zloty opened the scoring only 86 seconds earlier.
“Any game you get the first goal, it’s just a huge sigh of relief,” said Ice head coach James Patrick. “It gives you some life and so, I thought the Zloty play for the first goal was outstanding. I thought we were able to feed off of that.
“I think it was really tough for them. They played a hard seven-game series and then had to turn around and play us two days later. I thought we caught a bit of a tired team. I know they’re gonna be tougher tomorrow and tougher as the series goes on.”
The Ice had an empty net goal disallowed for offside.
Winnipeg outshot Saskatoon 27-16. Ethan Chadwick stopped 24 of 27 shots for the Blades.
The Ice are making their second straight appearance in the conference final, while it’s the Blades first trip to the final four since 1994.
The Ice went 4-2 against Toon Town in their six regular season meetings.
Game 2 is also in Winnipeg, scheduled for Saturday starting at 4 p.m. at the Wayne Fleming Arena.
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