The first round of Western Hockey League playoffs will come to an end tonight. After losing 3-2 in double overtime in Game 6 last night, Flaxcombe’s own Triston Mitchell-McElhone and the Saskatoon Blades are set to take the series the distance and face the Edmonton Oil Kings on Monday night in a winner-take-all Game 7 from Rogers Place.

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Splitting the first four games of the series, Saskatoon pulled ahead with a 4-2 win on the road in Game 5, before the overtime heartbreaker on Sunday afternoon extended the series to a seventh and final game.

Each goalie had a rough first period with Blades netminder Evan Gardner allowing two goals on nine shots, but after finding the back of the net with one of their eight first period shots the Blades cut the lead to 2-1 entering the second period. 

Gardner was a stone wall in the second period stopping all eleven shots faced, but the Blades failed to tie the game only mustering seven shots themselves in the middle frame. Shots were lopsided again in the third as the Blades netminder stopped all ten pucks that came his way to keep the game within one, and then with only seven seconds left Cooper Williams played hero tying the game with Saskatoon’s third shot of the final period.

After extending the game in the final seconds the Blades came out firing in overtime, forcing Oil Kings goalie Parker Snell to be on his game stopping all fifteen shots faced in the extra period, Gardner matching his efforts making seven saves to send the game into another overtime.

The battle at SaskTel Centre continued through the start of another fresh twenty minutes, but then momentum shifted in Edmonton’s favour after the Blades committed the game’s first penalty since the first five minutes of the second period. The Blades did their best to kill the ensuing powerplay, but after a minute on the kill, Miroslav Holinka scored the winner to send the series back to Alberta.

The second round of WHL playoffs will be set after tonight’s result in Edmonton.

The Blades and Oil Kings are the only teams still alive, looking to join Prince Albert, Calgary, and Medicine Hat already advanced out of the east, while Everett, Kelowna, Prince George, and Penticton wait to confirm start dates out west. 

WHL teams are competing for a spot to meet other CHL champions and the host Kelowna Rockets at this year’s Memorial Cup.