Keith Hershmiller
East Division, Eastern Division

Pats rally in third to beat Raiders in OT

Written by Kevin Shaw on

 

The Regina Pats traveled to Prince Albert on Friday to faceoff with the Raiders in a battle between teams that are five points out of a playoff spot heading into the contest.

The Pats trailed three times, had one lead, scored a late third-period goal to send the game into overtime.  Connor Bedard scored his third overtime goal of the season giving the Pats a huge 5-4 win and a massive two points at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert.

Raiders Sloan Stanick and Cale Sanders broke in on a two-on-one and Stanick fed a pass across to Sanders who one-timed his 11th past Drew Sim. On Prince Albert’s first shot of the game, it was 1-0 just 1:09 into the Friday night matchup.

Layton Feist took it upon himself to go end-to-end, deking out multiple Raiders along the way before putting up a beauty of a goal top corner past Tikhon Chaika to tie the game up at 1-1 at the 5:55 mark of the frame. Feist’s fourth was the first shot of the game for the Pats.

The Raiders took the lead back 14:14 into the first when Carson Latimer was able to cash in on a scramble in front of the Pat net. With five Pats in the area and Sim flailing on the ice, unable to corral the puck, Latimer was able to find the puck and bank it in off a Pat player in the crease. His 11th of the season made it 2-1 for the Raiders.

The teams headed into the first intermission with the Raiders leading 2-1 and 9-6 on the shot clock.

Borya Valis got the Pats back even when his wrist shot from the slot was miscalculated by Chaika and went in off the goalies’ glove. His eighth of the season scored while playing 4-on-4 made the score 2-2 at 5:51 of the second period.

Hometown product Tanner Howe gave the Pats a 3-2 lead just 1:11 later when his shot from the left point beat Chaika. The goal was Howe’s 18th of the season.

The Pats’ penalty kill struggles were alive and well again. The club took a pair of minors back to back giving the Raiders a short 5-on-3.

Landon Kosior (11th) wired home a one-timer on a feed from Reece Vitelli to tie the game up at 3-3 at 16:07 with seconds left on the 5-on-3 powerplay.

The powerplay continued as a 5-on-4 variety and Kosior had twice as much fun as his point shot eluded Sim to give the Raiders a one-goal lead at 17:22 and headed into the second break with a 4-3 lead.

The Pats took over the shot clock in the second by a 17-10 margin and 23-19 overall.

(My feed cut out just as this goal happened, so I missed this next one live)…

Connor Bedard started a Pats rush, drew three Raider defenders, and still got a shot away. Cole Carrier was able to pounce on the rebound and buried his 14th of the season to tie the game up at 4-4 at 15:29 of the third period ensuring extra time.

The Pats outshot the Raiders 12-7 in the third period and 35-26 overall through 60 minutes.

Off to overtime, we go…

After a failed Raiders rush, Bedard broke in on an odd-man rush and let go a wrister that fooled Chaika as it glanced in off his glove. Bedard’s 30th of the season gave the Pats a 5-4 victory and a pivotal two points.

The Pats went 0-for-3 on the powerplay, while the Raiders were perfect going 2-for-2.

Sim stopped 22 of 26 shots to pick up his third win of the season for the Pats. Chaika stopped 31 of 36 on the loss.

Patterings: Kosior (2G), Vitelli (2A), and Feist (1G-1A) were named the three stars. Sim was back in the Pat net after spending time on the injured list as was Adam McNutt who made his return to Prince Albert where his WHL career started. A crowd of 2,962 was in attendance for the game. The Pats’ next action is Monday, February 21, in an afternoon Family Day affair at the Brandt Centre.