Candace Ward
Eastern Division

Pats snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in 5-4 OT loss to Hitmen

Written by Kevin Shaw on

 

The Regina Pats went into Sunday’s game looking to end a four-game losing streak at the Saddledome against the Calgary Hitmen. Despite trailing 2-0 and 3-1, the Pats rallied and had a 4-3 lead late in the game until the Hitmen tied the game up with a late powerplay goal to send the contest to extra time. The Hitmen then finished their own comeback 32 seconds into overtime sealing a 5-4 win.

Regina Pats at Calgary Hitmen – February 6, 2022. (Photo: Candace Ward)

A loud and rambunctious crowd watched on as the Hitmen scored twice in the first period on goals by Steel Quiring (eighth) on a turnover in the Pats zone and Oliver Tulk (seventh) buried a juicy rebound by Matthew Kieper to give the Hitmen a 2-0 lead heading into the second period.

The Pats carried much of the play and outshot the Hitmen 16-8 in the opening 20 minutes.

Neither team was able to score in the second period and the Pats continued to take it to the Hitmen on the shot clock 15-5 for a 31-13 lead after forty minutes. Brayden Peters still has the Pats’ number this season had turned away all 31 shots to this point.

Connor Bedard took it upon himself to get the Pats into the game when he scored one of the nicest goals (his 23rd) you will ever see at 2:57 of the third period to get the Pats on the board.

Bedard threw a fake at Calgary Hitmen defenseman Matthew Sutter that caused him to get turned around. Bedard then broke in on Peters one-on-one, faked a backhand before he put his stick between the legs, and flipped the puck glove hand past the Calgary netminder. Just look at the replay.

“Jaw-dropping,” Pats head coach and general manager John Paddock told The Leader-Post’s, Rob Vanstone. “It was like, ‘Wow … what did we just see?’

“To beat a defenceman one-on-one and then do that is pretty unique.”

“His mind is working further ahead in the game than the rest of us,” Paddock said. “To make two moves like that within 15 or 20 feet was pretty amazing. We have to enjoy it while we have him to see it.”

But…

Just 10 seconds later, former Pat Blake Allan replied for the Hitmen restoring Calgary’s two-goal lead burying a rebound for his fifth goal of the season.

With the teams playing 4-on-4, the Pats broke into the Hitmen end with speed and Ryker Evans buried his ninth short side to pull the Pats to within a goal at 11:16.

The Pats were not done yet as Bedard knocked home his second of the game and 24th of the season when he converted a cross-crease pass from Logan Nijhoff at 13:35.

Not known for his booming shot, Evans (10th) let go a cannon of a one-timer on a feed from Neithan Salame to score his second of the game to give the Pats a 4-3 lead at 14:36.

With the Hitmen net empty the Pats broke out and it looked like a sure empty-net goal, but Cole Dubinsky rang the puck off the post. On the rush back, Tye Spencer took a minor for high-sticking, and you guessed it, the Hitmen scored with just over 11 seconds left to tie the game.

 

With the net empty, Grayden Siepmann‘s point blast on the powerplay beat the screened Pat goalie high blocker side, and with 11.5 seconds to play, the game was sent into as the WHL calls it WHOA-VERTIME.

The Pats outshot the Hitmen 19-17 in the third period and 50-30 through 60 minutes.

The Pats had the opening chance in the extra frame but missed the net. Riley Fiddler-Schultz banked a shot off the boards to Sean Tschigerl who broke in alone on Kieper and beat the Pat netminder with a quick shot low to the blocker side giving the Hitmen the 5-4 win.

“When we’re playing our style and we’re playing our games,” Pats assistant coach Brad Herauf said after the game. “We like our chances most games. On this road trip and a couple losses here, I would say we haven’t played our game or we kind of got away from it, but tonight was textbook Regina Pat hockey. We played well, did everything to win, just, unfortunately, didn’t happen our way.”

Peters stopped 46 of 50 Pats shots to win his 16th game of the season. Kieper made 26 saves in the loss.

Patterings: Bedard (2G), Allan (1G-2A), and Evans (2G) were named the three stars… Evans scored twice for the second game in a row after not scoring more than once in a game in his DUB career… Kieper was down at the end of the game after a Pat defender crashed into him on the Hitmen game-winning goal. The Pats’ next game is Tuesday at noon when they travel to Edmonton to play the Oil Kings in their annual Hockey Hookey game. The Pats next home game is Friday, February 11 against the visiting Hitmen.