Toronto Maple Leafs Fraser Minten Leads Blades to 2-0 Series Lead
Maple Leafs top three prospect Fraser Minten has elevated his game in the second round of his WHL Series.
Toronto Maple Leafs 2022 second round pick Fraser Minten had a relatively quiet first round series with his junior club the Saskatoon Blades, however, he has come up firing in round two.
In his first round series against the Prince Albert Raiders, the Toronto Maple Leafs prospect recorded one goal and three assists to help move his Blades into the second round in five games.
Minten and his club are now the midst of their series with the Red Deer Rebels that started this past Friday night. Minten, who was also named as captain for Team Canada at the last World Junior Championships earned first star honours in Game 1 of the series.
In the opening game, Minten would start the scoring midway through the first period after deflecting a Grayden Siepmann shot from the point. Midway through the second period after the Rebels tied up the game, Minten would lead a drive to the net, showing off some nice hands by pulling the puck around the Red Deer defense before putting the puck towards the net where linemate Vaughn Watterodt would jam in the rebound to regain the lead.
Four minutes later Minten would do his best Auston Matthews impression by setting up on his off wing on the power play for a one-time slapshot he buried in the back of the net for an insurance goal and his third point of the game. 2022 Maple Leafs seventh round pick Brandon Lisowsky would add an empty net goal for a 4-1 victory.
Blades Take Stranglehold lead on Series
The two teams would be back in action for the second game of the series on Sunday night and Minten would open the scoring in consecutive games, this time in the second period. The two-way center would find himself on a two man breakaway with Rhett Melnyk and elected to keep the puck to bury his third goal of the series.
The game would need overtime at which point undrafted defenseman Ben Saunderson would score the winner to put the Blades up 2-0 in the series heading into Game 3 in Red Deer on Tuesday night.
Through the first two games, Minten has been a force and arguably the Blades top player recording three goals and an assist while wiring 11 shots on net to a tune of a +3 rating.
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The surge by Minten helps get fans more excited about a potential matchup in the Memorial Cup between Minten and Easton Cowan.