Hurricanes score five unanswered in win over Saskatoon

By Lethbridge Herald on January 28, 2026.

Nathan Reiter
Lethbridge Herald

There was a moment where it appeared that the Lethbridge Hurricanes were up against it, but Lethbridge would persevere and score five unanswered goal to knock off the Saskatoon Blades 5-2 at the VisitLethbridge.com Arena on Wednesday night.

Hurricane head coach Matt Anholt says it was a group effort for Lethbridge in the victory.

“We’re real proud of the group, obviously. There’s lots of games in that losing streak that we felt like we were in, or could have maybe won, or were right there to win. (It’s) nice to get on a little bit of a winning streak right now. Boys are real happy, just proud of the group. Lots of real good performances tonight by a lot of different guys.”

The visiting Saskatoon Blades would fire the opening salvo in the dying seconds of the first period.

After a good chance for the Hurricanes on one end, the Blades would come back the other way on an odd man rush and Edmonton Oilers prospect David Lewandowski would deposit his 10th goal of the season with just 4.2 seconds to go to give Saskatoon a 1-0 lead. Tristen Doyle and Blade goaltender Ryley Budd were credited with the assists.

A scary hit would send the Hurricanes to a four minute power play early in the second period. Hurricane defenceman Nathan Maloney would play the puck along the boards in the defensive zone and would take a blindside hit from Blade captain Tyler Parr, who was assessed a double minor for boarding. Lethbridge would not score on the ensuing power play and Maloney would return to the game after being attended to by Hurricane athletic therapist Marty Palechuk.

The Blades power play would strike at the 6:35 mark as Rowan Calvert would redirect a slap pass from Lewandowski for his 23rd goal of the season. Hunter Laing would pick up the secondary assist.

“That was a huge sequence of events in a negative way, obviously to be down 2-0 after we had a chance to maybe tie it up.” Anholt said. “It was just nice for us to get some tip-in goals, like we’ve been talking about lots. When you’re a team that doesn’t score often, you want to try to get some simple goals. Low to highs, get up to the D, get a deflection, and nice to get a couple of those for our first two goals because we felt like we were doing a good job of keeping pucks down in the (offensive) zone, but we just wanted to get some pucks up to the D and get pucks through.”

Oli Chenier’s third goal as a Hurricane and sixth of the campaign would pull Lethbridge back within one at the 10:08 mark as the 18-year-old would redirect a point shot from Grady Pichette past Ryley Budd.

Lethbridge would knot the score up just 34 seconds later as Owen Berge would tip a Carsen Adair point shot over the glove of Ryley Budd for his 11th goal of the campaign.

Just nineteen seconds into the third period, the Hurricanes would take their first lead of the hockey game as Hudson Kibblewhite would burn his former club with his 12th goal of the season. Carsen Adair picked up his second point of the night with the lone assist.

It was Kibblewhite’s first career goal against the Blades, who drafted him in the second round back in 2022. Kibblewhite was acquired by the Hurricanes last summer in a trade that saw Tristen Doyle head to Saskatoon.

In a postgame interview, Kibblewhite said it was important for the team to get the two points.

“I know it was huge for our team getting that, I think it was our first back-to-back win since the start of the year, so that was really good for our group. Scoring that goal means the world to me. Playing with those guys for the last two years and scoring against them feels great and definitely lots more momentum going forward for our team.”

Kade Duell would double the Hurricane lead with his 13th goal of the season coming at the 6:33 mark. The Taber product would have the puck at the high point and dance his way into the slot before beating Budd. Easton Daneault and Will Scott provided the helpers.

Kyle Heger would ice the game for the Hurricanes with an empty net goal at the 18:10 mark.

Koen Cleaver made 36 saves in the win for Lethbridge while Ryley Budd made 27 stops for Saskatoon.

The Hurricanes return to action on Friday night when the Calgary Hitmen pay a visit to the VisitLethbridge.com Arena. Puck drop is 7 p.m.