The Blackfalds Bulldogs exacted revenge on the Sherwood Park Crusaders in Game 2 of the opening round of the Rogers BCHL Playoffs with a dominant 4-0 win.
The first period was full of action on both ends of the ice, with shots on goal finishing 17-15 in favour of the Crusaders. But the Bulldogs would be the team to get the ice breaker first in Game 2.
Bulldogs goaltender Olivér Király would stretch the puck up the ice to Nikita Ivashchenko from his crease to the offensive zone blue line. Crusaders’ netminder Filip Vavro would stop Ivashchenko’s shot. The rebound went to another Bulldog in Nikita Meshcheryakov, who sent it towards the net, where it got buried by Dean Toskos with 12:50 remaining in the first period.
The Bulldogs would double their lead on a 4-on-3 power play after the Crusaders took a bench minor for unsportsmanlike conduct to turn a 4-on-4 into a penalty kill. Ivashchenko would pick up the rebound after he and Joey Melo exchanged scoring opportunities and sent the puck back down low to Thomas Neu, who found Alex Bosland walking in and fired the puck into the back of the net over a stick-less blocker side of Vavro. The power play needed all of 27 seconds to cash in with 2:08 remaining in the first.
The scoring wasn’t done there as the Bulldogs would deal more damage, this time while shorthanded. Neu disrupted a pass at the blue line of his own zone, which allowed his teammate Brayden Smith to pounce on the loose puck and skate out of the zone and return the puck to Neu for a 2-on-2 opportunity in transition. Smith drove to the net and allowed Neu to create a shooting lane for himself, cutting from the left side wall to the middle and picking the glove side corner. That would put the Bulldogs up 3-0 with 39 seconds remaining in the period.
In the second period, the Bulldogs would add the final goal of the night. Melo would win the offensive zone faceoff before Luke Dahlen swooped in and passed it near the blue line for Krisjanis Sarts, who sent a seeing-eye shot into the back of the net to put the Bulldogs up 4-0.
Shots on goal were 11-4 in favour of the Bulldogs in the second period and 10-8 in the third, also for the Bulldogs. The final shots on goal were 36-29 for Blackfalds. The Bulldogs would finish 1/6 on the power play while the Crusaders went 0/4 on their opportunities.
Király turned aside all 29 shots that he saw to pick up his first BCHL playoff shutout in his second game played. During the regular season, Király had 4 shutouts in 23 games. He would pick up first star honours for his efforts. Neu was the second star with a goal and an assist, while Alex Bosland was the third star with his power play goal.
The series now shifts to Sherwood Park for games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday night. Puck drop is at 7:00 p.m. both nights, and you can catch all the action by watching on FloHockey or listening on Mixlr.
The series will return to Blackfalds for Game 5 on Friday, April 10, with puck drop at 7:00 p.m. at the Eagle Builders Centre. Tickets can be purchased here: https://www.showpass.com/202526-bulldogs-single-game-ti-26-04-14-22-2976/seating/
