The St. Albert Gregg Distributors Sabres are regrouping and refocusing after two gut-wrenching overtime losses in the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League provincial final.
Back-to-back 3-2 setbacks to the Airdrie Xtreme last weekend at Akinsdale Arena left the Sabres on the verge of an early exit in the best-of-five series.
“Ultimately, the series isn’t over. There is still a long ways to go,” said head coach Lee Zalasky. “You’ve got to win three games to win the series. We’ve got to focus on the next game.
“These ones are over. You’ve got to learn and move on and be ready for the next one.”
The final shifts to Airdrie for game three Saturday at 3:30 p.m. and game four, if needed, is Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
If the Sabres force a fifth and deciding game it will be played Wednesday at 6:45 p.m. at Go Auto Arena.
The winner advances to westerns, March 29 to April 1 at Kamloops.
“There is lots to build off of moving into game three,” Zalasky said. “By no means were we not in the same ball park. We just didn’t get that last goal ultimately.
“We have to build on that belief knowing that we were in those games.”
In both games, the Sabres trailed 2-0 after the first period before scoring once in the second and slotting the equalizer in the third.
“Playing a really good team like that and having to play from behind it’s a tough feat so it was a sense of resilience we demonstrated in those games,” Zalasky said of the Xtreme, 25-5-6 (148 GF/72 GA) in league play and 9-1 (42 GF/20 GA) in the playoffs.
“Over the year given our record there were games where we were a goal or two behind and we were able to pull it out so there was a sense of resilience our team built to overcome those situations.” Zalasky added. “When we were down 2-0 we held them at bay and we were able to work our way back into it so there are positives but we've got to execute sooner and get to that finish line sooner."
Unfortunately for the Sabres, 25-3-8 (186 GF/58 GA) in league play and 7-3 (48 GF/27 GA) in the playoffs, “We just couldn’t get the next one,” Zalasky said. “It’s just a matter of getting out of the gate sooner and ultimately you have to play pretty close to perfect hockey.”
In the series opener Saturday, the Xtreme opened the scoring on the power with 4:20 left in the first and made it 2-0 with 39 seconds left in the period.
The Sabres pulled even with goals from Graeme Hampton on the power play with 1:16 remaining in the second and Zachry Desranleau at 5:33 into the third.
Craig Armstrong’s second goal of the night was the winner at 2:28 into OT.
Shots were 30-29 for the Xtreme and Carson Ironside was in net for the Sabres.
“The first game was maybe a little more of a feeling-out process for us. We hadn’t seen them all year and with some of our players there was a little bit of anxiety. It’s a big podium for the competition and for some of them it’s a new experience so it was get their toes wet with it and then get settled in,” Zalasky said.
In game two Sunday, the Xtreme struck twice before the six-minute mark of the first and the Sabres replied with captain Tyson Greenway’s goal in the second and Evan Arnold’s tying marker on the power play halfway through the third.
“Even though we got behind out of the gate we were more quicker to settle in and ultimately got a couple of goals,” Zalasky said.
Despite several power plays during the 33 minutes of sudden-death hockey the Sabres were unable to capitalize and the Xtreme ended the suspense with Colton Koran’s unassisted winner at 3:02 in the third extra period.
The Xtreme is 3-1 and the Sabres are 0-3 in playoff OT results.
Shots were 18-10 in OT for Airdrie and 44-40 overall for the Sabres and Ironside (5-3, 2.21 GAA) was between the pipes.
The Sabres deserved a better fate, according to Zalasky.
“Given the games and the scores and both going into overtime it could’ve easily been 2-0 for us or 1-1 but we wound up on the other end of it.”
Zalasky stressed the playoffs are a rollercoaster of highs and lows the Sabres have to conquer.
“We talked about a team like Los Angeles a few years ago when they were down 3-0 to San Jose and they worked themselves out of that and ended up winning the cup that year,” he said. “It’s now one game at a time and one period at a time for us and we're just going to have to be prepared for the next game.”
The Xtreme are a tough nut to crack for the Sabres.
“They have some pretty decent depth, a really good goaltender (Nathan Airey) and ultimately the backbone of their team is their work ethic. They’re a very blue-collar team. Everyone goes to the net and they make you work both ways offensively and defensively. They skate both ways hard and there is no time to take the foot off the gas so they play an honest game and ultimately we have to do the same and match that better than that,” Zalasky said. “They’re holding us accountable and making us and pushing us to play better too.”
