WHL Regina Pats

Late Power Play Lifts Blades Past Pats

Published on February 3, 2022 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Regina Pats News Release


Regina, Sask. - The Saskatoon Blades power play led them to a 5-4 regulation victory over the Regina Pats on Wednesday night at the Brandt Centre.

The visitors went 4-for-5 with the man advantage, which included scoring the game-winning-goal with 1:50 remaining in the game, off the stick of Kyle Crnkovic.

Crnkovic had two goals and an assist and was named the game's first star. Jayden Wiens also had two goals for Saskatoon, with Brandon Lisowsky producing the other Blades goal.

The Pats got two goals each from Connor Bedard and Cole Dubinsky, plus multi-point efforts from Ryker Evans (2A), Logan Nijhoff (2A) and Stanislav Svozil (2A).

Drew Sim started the game in goal for the Pats, but was forced to leave the game late in the first period after a collision in front of the net.

THE GOALS

1st Period

SAS 1-0 at 3:45 - Jayden Wiens (13), assisted by Rhett Rhinehart // Rhinehart's point shot deflected off of Neithan Salame's stick in front, slowing it down enough for Wiens to chip it past the right pad of Sim to open the scoring.

REG 1-1 at 17:49 - Connor Bedard (21), assisted by Ryker Evans // Evans point shot was stopped but Bedard was able to knock down the rebound with his glove and backhand it just past the outstretched glove of Maier.

REG 2-1 at 18:01 - Cole Dubinsky (11), assisted by Tye Spencer and Logan Nijhoff // The Pats struck just 12 seconds later, after Nijhoff chipped the puck down to Spencer, who then quickly dropped a no-look pass to Dubinsky, who pulled it to his backhand and roofed it over the glove of Maier.

2nd Period

SAS 2-2 at 0:22 - Jayden Wiens (14), assisted by Aidan De La Gorgendiere and Brandon Lisowsky // De La Gorgendiere was stopped by Kieper on a 3-on-2 rush on the power play, but Wiens was able to put home the rebound.

SAS 3-2 at 1:05 - Brandon Lisowsky (22), assisted by Jayden Wiens and Kyle Crnkovic // Wiens was able to centre a pass from the goal line to Lisowsky in front on the power play to give the Blades the lead early in the second.

REG 3-3 at 3:09 - Cole Dubinsky (12), assisted by Ryker Evans and Stanislav Svozil // Svozil walked in from the left point and fed a cross-ice pass to Evans for the one-timer, which hit Dubinsky in front. With Maier out of position, Dubinsky was able to backhand the loose puck just past the goal line.

REG 4-3 at 6:59 - Connor Bedard (22), assisted by Stanislav Svozil and Logan Nijhoff // Bedard let a seeing-eye shot go from the top of the right circle that beat a screened Maier thanks to Cole Dubinsky sitting in front.

SAS 4-4 at 19:35 - Kyle Crnkovic (24), assisted by Brandon Lisowsky and Aidan De La Gorgendiere // After the Pats failed to clear the zone, Crnkovic blasted a one-timer off a pass from De La Gorgendiere that beat Kieper on the short side over the glove.

3rd Period

SAS 5-4 at 18:10 - Kyle Crnkovic (25), assisted by Aidan De La Gorgendiere and Tristen Robins // Crnkovic wristed the game-winner from the slot past the blocker of Kieper.

FINAL: Pats 4 | Blades 5

STATISTICS

SOG: REG - 30 | SAS - 31

PP: REG - 1/4 | SAS - 4/5

Faceoffs: REG - 36 | SAS - 33

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Regina: Drew Sim started the game and stopped eight of nine shots he faced, but exited with 2:58 to go in the first after a collision in front of the net. Matthew Kieper made 18 saves on 22 shots after entering the game cold.

Saskatoon: Nolan Maier stopped 26 of 30 for his 109th career WHL victory.

THEY SAID IT

Pats Head Coach & GM John Paddock: "We've played the last three games against teams that are just a little bit above us in the standings, more so in that cluster of teams that have pulled away a little bit, but we feel that for big parts of the game we've deserved better. I thought the Brandon game for example, when they went ahead 5-4, they had five goals on 15 shots. I don't know what more we could do, and we had four goals...Clearly we need some better [penalty killing but] it's not the system on the penalty kill. It's some individual brain cramps that are really hurting us on the penalty kill and we need to get that stopped."

3 STARS

Kyle Crnkovic - SAS - 2G (incl. GWG), 1A

Cole Dubinsky - REG - 2G

Brandon Lisowsky - SAS - 1G, 2A

UP NEXT

The Pats head on a three-game road trip to Alberta next in the schedule, with games in Lethbridge (Friday), Calgary (Sunday afternoon) and Edmonton (Tuesday afternoon).

Check out the Regina Pats Statistics

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Western Hockey League Stories from February 3, 2022


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