Storm forward Ethan Strang against Saints goaltender Matthew Davis. Photo Credit: Shane Clausing

By Shane Clausing

Storm win

Storm stun Saints in game four, tie series at two

Mar 6, 2020 | 10:33 AM

After a game three double-overtime victory less than 24 hours earlier, the Grande Prairie Storm kept the momentum going Thursday night, stunning the Spruce Grove Saints 2-1 and tying the series up at two.

After a fast-paced first period that saw only a few whistles, Zachary Douglas opened the scoring for the Saints to give them a 1-0 lead 7:37 into the period.

In the second things began to get physical, which was positive for the Storm. At the 9:40 mark of the second, the Saints were a little too focused on checking and left Nathan Morgan and Ethan Strang open right in front of the net.

Morgan would pass the puck to a wide-open Strang, who would score his first of the playoffs to tie the game up at 1-1.

Late in the period, Cole Basnett would hit a Storm player from behind. A scrum would commence and eventually, Max Giangualano and Basnett would drop the gloves.

Both players were given game misconducts on the play, while the Storm would head to the powerplay following the initial boarding call.

On the powerplay, Austin Schellenberg would wrist a soft shot from the blue line and the puck would take an awkward deflection off a Saint player and find its way into the back of the net to give the Storm a 2-1 lead with 1:11 remaining in the second. It was the Storm’s first powerplay goal of the series.

The third period featured just eight total shots, but the Saints would pull goaltender Matthew Davis with under two minutes and send out the extra attacker to apply a bit of pressure to the Storm.

The clock would eventually tick down to zero though, and the Storm would take down the Saints for the second time in as many nights and send the series back to Spruce Grove tied at two.

After the game, Schellenberg had a chuckle about what ended up being the game winning goal.

“That was real ugly, it was an absolute muffin and I just got a lucky bounce, so that was sweet. A win’s a win so it feels pretty good.”

Following 17 straight games without a victory, the Storm have now put together back-to-back wins to keep their season alive. Interim Head Coach Ryan Aasman credits his team’s ability to come together for their turnaround.

“I thought we saw that start to form the last five games of the regular season. Guys are standing up for each other and now they’re forming into that family that took a long time to develop, but it’s happened naturally, and they played for each other,” said Aasman.

It was also the first time in the series that the Storm were able to keep the Saints powerplay off the scoresheet. The Saints powerplay before game four was clicking at a rate of 42% in the series.

“I thought (Assistant Coach) Taylor Makin had a great game plan today and did a great job to get us right back on track with the penalty kill. The boys bought in again, good sticks, good spots on the d-zone and bearing down and making hard plays,” said Aasman.

While the series is tied at 2-2, Aasman knows that his team will be in for a battle Saturday night for game five in Spruce Grove.

“We’re loose and confident and things are going good. I’m sure in game five somethings going to go wrong, and it’s just a matter of how you respond to it. Every game that we’ve had so far, we’ve had to respond to something and that’s going to be no different in game five. We have got to keep with our game plan and mostly keep having fun.”

Game five Saturday is set for 7:00 p.m. in Spruce Grove. Game six will be back at Revolution Place on Tuesday night. Faceoff is at 7:30 p.m.