Article content

Nolan Maier stopped 19 shots for his third shutout of the season, backstopping the Saskatoon Blades to a 4-0 win over the Regina Pats on Friday night before 3,445 fans at SaskTel Centre.

With the loss, Regina finished 1-4-1 in the season series versus Saskatoon.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Blades blank Pats in Saskatoon Back to video

Eric Florchuk (shorthanded), Max Gerlach, Ryan Hughes and Kyle Crnkovich scored for the Blades, who had leads of 2-0 and 4-0 at the respective intermissions.

Ex-Pat Dawson Davidson added two assists.

Regina netminder Dean McNabb was named the third star after stopping 31 shots.

Saskatoon outshot the Pats 35-19 while going 0-for-9 on the power play.

The Pats were 0-for-7.

With the win, the Blades improved 40-14-8-0. They sit second in the East Division and have clinched a playoff spot for the first time in six years.

Regina (18-41-1-2) is back on home ice Saturday afternoon (2:30 p.m.) against the Lethbridge Hurricanes.