Keith Hershmiller
Eastern Division

Broncos hold off Pats 4-3 in Family Day contest

Written by Kevin Shaw on

 

The Swift Current Broncos came into Regina and took a hard-fought battle from the Pats 4-3 in front of a season-high crowd of 5,728 on Family Day at the Brandt Centre.

Regina Pats vs Swift Current Broncos – February 21, 2022 (Keith Hershmiller)

Both teams got started early and before the game was 10 minutes old the game was tied at 2-2 and it stayed that way until just over the halfway mark of the second when the Broncos took the 3-2 lead heading into the third stanza. The Pats got on even terms early in the final frame before the Broncos took the lead with 12 minutes left in the game which proved to be the winner as the Broncos held on to the 4-3 win.

“It was a [really] important game for us,” said Pats assistant coach Brad Herauf. “A four-point game, it could have got us back into the playoff hunt with a win [today] and the games at hand we do have on teams ahead of us would have set us up real nice for this road trip.”

“It’s not one we’re happy about,” said Cole Dubinsky. “Every game now for us right now is like a game seven of a playoff series. It’s really frustrating, it’s really hard to take.”

Karson King got the Broncos on the board early in the contest when he batted in a rebound out of the air past Drew Sim. King’s third goal of the season gave the Broncos the 1-0 lead at 2:19 of the first period.

Less than a minute later, Tanner Howe notched his 19th of the season when he grabbed the puck, blew by the defender, and put a nice highlight reel backhand past Isaac Poulter to tie the game up at 1-1 at 3:17.

The Pats took the lead just over 3 1/2 minutes later when Connor Bedard faked a shot, cruised out front, and put a wrister past a screened Poulter. The powerplay goal at 6:49 was Bedard’s 31st of the season that gave the Pats a 2-1 lead.

Less than three minutes later King doubled his season goal total when he scored his second of the game and fourth of the season when he found a loose puck and poked it past Sim. King’s goal, scored at 9:38 of the first period tied the game up at 2-2 heading into the first-period break.

The announced shots were 12-9 Regina after 20 minutes.

The Broncos were the only team to get on board in the second period when Josh Davies scored his 14th of the season at 11:18. Connor Hvidston’s shot rang off the crossbar and Davies was able to grab the puck and put it past Sim to give the Broncos the 3-2 lead heading into the third period

The shot clock read 17-15, Swift Current, with the lead after two periods.

A loud and boisterous crowd got behind the Pats for a third-period rally and it looked like it was coming.

Stanislav Svozil picked up his fifth goal of the season when his long-distance point shot eluded a screened Bronco netminder to get the game back even 3-3 at 4:41 of the third period.

Unfortunately for the Pats, the rally was short-lived.

Davies picked up his second of the game, less than four minutes when he spun and fired a shot that somehow beat Sim to give the Broncos a 4-3 lead at 7:59 of the third period.

The Pats threw everything they could at Swift Current but were unable to solve the Bronco puzzle. Including a last-second buzzer-beating stop by Poulter with time expiring.

“I liked the way we responded in the third period,” said Pats assistant coach Brad Herauf. “We really put the pressure on. We really had multiple chances there at the end. But we just weren’t like that in the second period. I think we kind of fell off our game a little bit once Logan [Nijhoff] got hurt there. The lines were kind of scrambled a little bit. Good on them, they killed off those power plays in the second period and we needed to score one there.”

The Broncos prevailed 4-3. The Pats outshot the Broncos 32-23 overall.

“With all these teams fighting for the wildcard spot, these are four-point games,” Ryker Evans said. “It’s definitely tough losing to these guys. It’s obviously coming down to the end… we can’t keep losing them.”

In the second intermission, this happened…

Patterings: John Paddock missed his sixth straight contest as he is still feeling under the weather… Pats captain Logan Nijhoff left the game with an undisclosed injury before the midway point of the contest… Poulter stopped 29 of 32 shots in the win… Sim stopped 19 in the loss. Bedard added an assist on the Pats’ third goal and extended his multi-point scoring streak to eight games… Davies, Howe, and Bedard were named the games’ three stars. The Pats’ next action is Wednesday when they play host to the Medicine Hat Tigers.