Kevin Shaw
2021-22 WHL Season, East Division, Eastern Division

Pats fall to Blades 5-2, extend losing streak to six

Written by Kevin Shaw on

 

After starting the season with a pair of wins, the Regina Pats went into Friday’s game against the Blades on a five-game losing streak. The Blades came into the contest with a 4-1-1-0 record and a two-game winning streak.

The Pats, still looking to get some magic started, shuffled their lines to see if the offense could get rolling. They moved Logan Nijhoff and Cole Dubinsky to Connor Bedard’s wings. Tanner Howe was on a line with Cole Carrier and Drew Englot. Zack Stringer played on a line with Zack Smith and Jakob Brook. The last line was a combination of US players with Easton Armstrong and Borya Valis flanking Zane Rowan. On Defense, Ryker Evans was paired with Luke Bateman to start the game. Stanislav Svozil and Tom Cadieux were a combination, while Parker Berge and Adam McNutt rounded out the defensive pairs. Matthew Kieper was back between the pipes for the Pats.

Tristen Robins came in as the WHL’s leading scorer with 13 points in just five games. Kyle Crnkovic was the Blades leader in goals with six, in as many games, and his 10 points placed him second in team scoring.

The Pats had many opportunities but were stymied by Nolan Maier and the Blades in a 5-2 loss at the Brandt Centre in Regina. Five different Blades scored in the win, including two first career goals.

“Tonight, we put ourselves in a position to win with six forwards and three defensemen and that’s a really good sign:” Pats head coach Dave Struch said, “if we can do that, and play that hard, with that much character, and get that many opportunities and shots on net, with just that many guys. We didn’t have enough guys on board tonight doing things the right way.”

Here is how things went…

First Period

Nice hit around the five-minute mark of the first period. Dubinsky leveled Pavel Bocahrov in the Blade zone to the left of Maier.

Spencer Shugrue scored with a long-distance shot that beat Kieper through a screen. Brendan Lee and Moritz Elias picked up the assists on Shugrue’s first career goal at 13:24 made the score 1-0.

With just over two minutes left in the first frame, Evans and then Bedard were absolutely robbed by overage Blade netminder Maier.

Tons of opportunities for both teams in the opening 20 minutes, but the Blades were the only team to strike paydirt. The Pats had a 15-12 shot advantage and neither team was penalized.

Second Period

53 seconds into the second period Lee’s wrister beat Kieper low blocker side to give the Blades a 2-0 lead early in the middle twenty. Kyle Crnkovic and Robins added helpers on Lee’s second goal of the season.

Dubinsky grabbed the puck along the right boards and went hard around the Blade defenders and tucked a nice goal past Maier. His third of the season at 3:42 got the Pats on the board with the 2-1 goal. Smith and Cadieux picked up the assists on the even-strength marker.

Stringer took the first minor of the game, with a holding infraction 5:34 into the second period.

Just five seconds later the Blades made it 3-1. Egor Sidorov deflected in a point shot by Aidan de la Gorgendiere. Robins picked up the secondary assist on the powerplay goal.

Bedard broke out of his slump with a huge breakaway goal that beat Maier on the glove side at 6:44 of the second. His fourth goal of the season got the Pats back to within one at 3-2.

The Pats kept up the pressure taking a 12-6 shot advantage in the second and 27-18 overall.

Third Period

The Pats had multiple scoring chances very early in the third period and Maier kept the puck out of the net. The Pats had three shots in the first 52 seconds of the third but failed to capitalize.

The Blades got their second man-advantage 1:54 into the final period as Brook took a slashing minor. The Pats managed to kill it off.

Bocharov took a pass from Brandon Lisowsky and ripped home his first career goal from the left faceoff circle. Elias added the second assist on the 4-2 goal at 12:19 of the third period.

Trevor Wong sealed the contest at 16:47 when we walked in and beat Kieper with a wrist shot to make the game 5-2 and all but putting it out of reach. Josh Paulhus added the lone assist on Wong’s third of the season.

The shots were 12-12 in the third period and 39-30 in favor of the hometown Pats.

“Our players, they know about it now…” Struch said, “In the end, we shot, they saved. They shot, and scored. We had lots of really, really good opportunities. It’s just the way things are going for us right now. We have to get off of this train here.”

Patterings… Smith left midway through the second period, but was seen on the bench near the latter part of the frame and returned for the final twenty minutes… The attendance was actually announced in-house for the first time this season… the attendance: 3,703… the Blades went unpenalized… The Pats went 0-for-0 on the powerplay and killed 1-of-2 penalties… the three stars for the game were: 1. Maier (Saskatoon) 2. Elias (Saskatoon) 3. Dubinsky (Regina)… The Pats’ next action is a return matchup in Saskatoon on Sunday, October 24.