Matthew Savoie’s second goal of the night for the St. Albert Gregg Distributors Sabres broke a third-period deadlock in Thursday’s victory at Akinsdale Arena.
The Sabres and Sherwood Park Flyers were knotted at two when Austin Spiridakis and captain Mike Benning assisted on Savoie’s 12th goal of the season with 1:40 gone in the third period.
Spiridakis potted the insurance marker with 13:30 remaining in the 4-2 decision as the Nitro north division Sabres raised their record to 11-0 in the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League.
The only other team that hasn’t suffered a loss is the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers (9-0-1) of the Charger north division.
Carter Savoie and Matthew opened the scoring in the first and the Flyers replied with a pair in the middle frame.
Marc Lajoie also added two assists.
Shots were 14-2 in the third and 40-17 overall for the Sabres as Ethan Barwick (5-0, 1.79 GAA) and Kyle Nelson (6-0, 2.04 GAA) played 30 minutes apiece between the pipes.
Tuesday the Sabres face-off against the PAC Saints (2-7-2) at 7 p.m. at the Akinsdale rink.
The St. Albert Merchants are back on home ice Sunday, when the junior B team hosts the Beaumont Chiefs.
Faceoff is 8 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
The Merchants were 7-4 as the fourth-place team in the west division before Friday’s game against the Fort Saskatchewan Hawks at JRC Arena and Beaumont was 10-2 for second in the east standings. The score against the Hawks (8-3-1) was unavailable at press time.
The Merchants were 1-3 in their last four games after Wednesday’s 7-3 loss to the North Edmonton Red Wings at Londonderry Arena.
The Founders Cup league playoff champions the last two seasons lit the lamp five times in the opening 13:43 minutes before the Merchants got on the board with 3:22 left in the first period on Matt Havens’ team-high ninth goal and third on the power play.
Jake Mercier (power play) and Tyler Mork closed the gap at 5-3 in the second and the Red Wings (8-3-1), the top west division team, answered with 7:35 left in the period.
Thomas Rotundo picked up two assists and Havens added one assist for his team-leading 21st point.
The Merchants were outshot 17-9 in the first and 47-36 in total. Ryen Papirny (5-1, 2.99 GAA) let in three goals on eight shots as the starter and was replaced by Ethan Crotty (2-3, 5.07 GAA).
