Saints Down Blues

The rough start to the Blues season got a little rougher last night as the Winnipeg Saints downed the Blues 6-0 in front of 225 fans at the MTS Ice Plex.

It was the Blues second straight loss to the Saints, and 8th in a row overall.

The Saints struck early in the first, as the teams played a little four on four.  Paul Crane would snipe a shot past Blues goaltender Brett Martyniuk to open the scoring.

Four minutes later Cole Pruden would make it 2-0.  That was his first of 4 points on the night.

In the second, a period where the Blues needed to score first, it was the Saints who would strike early.   Pruden would notch his second of the game on a nice pass from Kyle Bodnaruk, and it was 3-0.

The Blues would have their chance to get back into the game midway through the period when Kyle Stephenson would get a checking from behind penalty, unsportsmanlike, and a game misconduct.  On the ensuing 4 minute powerplay, the Blues couldn't get the puck behind Saints netminder Michael Deslauriers, who was stellar all night.

The Saints killed that off then went to the powerplay themselves, and they'd capitalize when Tim Hayduk's shot from the point took a deflection and ended up on Richard Little's stick in front of the net.   Little had a tap in, and the Saints were up 4-0 after two periods.

In the third, much the same for the Blues.  They created a few chances, but just couldn't put the puck in the net.  Midway through the third Shane Gingera found the puck on his stick about 6 feet in front of Martyniuk, and he made no mistake putting a shot just under the bar making it 5-0.

Jordan Davies would round out the scoring for the Saints after he was left alone in the slot, and fired a beautiful shot over the right arm of Martyniuk.  

6-0 Saints.

The Blues now fall to 0-4-2-2 (4pts) on the season and are desperately looking to get into the win column.  There next chance to do so is tonight (Friday), when they head to Credit Union Place in Dauphin to take on the 4-2-1-0 (9pts) Kings.