Thursday’s matinee contest at the Subway Hub was between the Regina Pats and Prince Albert Raiders. Both clubs have not been playing well lately and are looking to turn things around.
Two days after an embarrassing 8-3 loss at the hands of the Winnipeg ICE the Pats rebounded nicely with a 5-3 win over the Raiders.
The Pats turned to Matthew Kieper between the pipes. Pats’ starting goalie Roddy Ross has had a tough start to the 2020-21 season and was given the night off.
The Raiders also have goaltending issues. Starter Max Paddock is out with an injury and Carter Serhyenko got the call for the Raiders. Prince Albert does not have a third goalie, so it is his crease for the time being.
Five different players scored for the Pats who moved to a 2-3-2-0 record on the season.
“It goes to show you need to go through a lot of different things that you can learn from to develop, and I think what Winnipeg did to us,” said Pats head coach Dave Struch “I think that that might have pushed us a little bit, well, I know it did. Those are things that you need to go through and experience to get better and the guys did that tonight.”
Early penalty trouble for the Pats gave the momentum to the Raiders. Regina was able to kill them off but it was all Raiders early on.
The Pats had just one shot and very few opportunities through the first half of the period. The Raiders had nine.
Regina gained a little momentum and Prince Albert took a minor penalty late the frame.
The Pats powerplay had been sputtering, scoring on just one for their last 15 attempts. Carson Denomie made it two for their last 16 as he scored his seventh goal of the season. He completed a nice powerplay setup from Connor Bedard and Ryker Evans.
Bedard’s assist extended his point streak to seven games to start the season.
Pats’ goaltending was not an issue early in this game as Kieper looked good in the first frame as he made 16 saves. The Pats finished with just seven shots in the period.
The second period started on more even terms as both teams tightened up their play. The intensity and physical play became more prevalent as the period went on.
The Raiders eventually tied the game at 1-1. Remi Aquilon’s seeing eye-shot from the point eluded a screened Pats netminder.
The momentum then shifted the way of the Pats and it paid off for them.
His FIRST in @TheWHL…Braxton Whitehead!
Pats back up by one.
$100 ➡️ @BBBSRegina from PTI#JoinTheRegiment pic.twitter.com/Qdsm1Pl6Ul
— Regina Pats (@WHLPats) March 25, 2021
The Pats’ fourth line connected as Braxton Whitehead scored his first career goal to give the Pats a 2-1 lead. Cole Carrier took a shot that was partially blocked and bounced to Whitehead. He directed the puck past the Raider goalie.
Cole Carrier continued his strong play of late and scored his first goal of the season. He scored the Pats’ first shorthanded goal of the season on a great effort that ended in a short breakaway. He cashed in to give the Pats a 3-1 lead with less than five minutes left in the second.
The Pats carried much of the momentum to start the third period, thanks to a man advantage to open the play.
Carter Massier added to the Pats’ total when he deposited a rebound past the Raider goalie. The Pats took a 4-1 lead and kept adding to their momentum.
Another first in @TheWHL!
Layton Feist finds the back of the net and it's 5-1 Pats in the third. Assists to Bedard and Denomie.#JoinTheRegiment pic.twitter.com/nWzgNSUMS7
— Regina Pats (@WHLPats) March 26, 2021
Another first career goal for a Pats player came as Layton Feist converted a Bedard pass. He showed patience and fired the puck past Serhyenko to give the Pats a 5-1 lead.
The Raiders were not giving up and came back to life in the last half of the period.
Eric Pearce notched his third of the season as he beat the screened Pats goaltender to make it a 5-2 game.
Just over three minutes later, the Raiders’ Landon Kosior scored his first of the season on the powerplay. His shot beat the screened Pats goaltender high glove side to pull the Raiders to within a pair with just over five minutes left.
The Raiders ran out of time and opportunities as the Pats picked up a hard-earned 5-3 win.
Kieper ended up with 26 saves in his second win in as many starts and the only two wins for the Pats so far this season.
“He’s making it difficult, but there are also two other goalies. We’ve seen (Roddy) Ross play lots, we’ve been trying to help him find his game. Matthew works hard, he’s a great kid, he’s got two wins, he’s played well in his games,” said Struch when asked if Kieper’s strong play makes his decision harder on who to start moving forward.
“The one that we haven’t seen is (Spencer) Welke,” Struch continued “So there has to be some consideration to all of them moving forward and that’s great, that’s the part of the hockey and the developing that’s fun for us as coaches. Tying to make decisions, right or wrong, right now I think that these guys are going through a really good experience even though the record isn’t where we want it to be.”
When asked if the Pats have a dilemma in goal Struch responded “It’s not that it’s a dilemma, it’s an opportunity, it gives us choices and like I said, the players like all three of [our goalies] and they’ll play hard in front of whoever is in net.”
No matter who was in goal or who scored the Pats’ goals they worked hard in the game. “It was good for our guys. I’m really proud of them.” Struch said of the win.
Patterings: Jacob Dewitt made his first appearance in the Pats lineup. Carrier completed the “Gordie Howe Hat-trick” with a third-period scrap with Adam McNutt. The Pats are back at it Friday when they take on the Saskatoon Blades at 4 p.m.
