WHL Regina Pats

Pats Drop Heart Breaker to Hurricanes 5-4 in OT

Published on March 10, 2023 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Regina Pats News Release


Lethbridge, Alta. - The Regina Pats dropped a heart breaking 5-4 overtime loss to the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Friday inside the Enmax Centre.

The Pats had a 3-1 lead after one and a 4-3 lead after two. Connor Bedard, Tanner Howe, Braxton Whitehead and Tye Spencer scored for the Pats, while Drew Sim made 34 saves and Zack Stringer picked up two assists against his former team. On the bright side, the Pats gather a point and finish the season series 2-0-1-1 against the Hurricanes.

Meanwhile, the Hurricanes completed the comeback in the third with Joe Arntsen scoring the tying goal with under three minutes to play. Logan McCutcheon scored the overtime winner, and the Hurricanes snapped their two-game losing streak. Miguel Marques, Tyson Zimmer (1G-1A) and Jett Jones rounded out the scoring for the Hurricanes, while Bryan Thomson made 22 saves in the win.

THE GOALS

First Period

REG 1-0 at 3:50 - Connor Bedard (61), assisted by Zack Stringer (PP) // The Pats won a scrambled draw in the Hurricanes zone, Bedard got control of the puck in front of the net and tucked a nice backhand under Thomson to give the Pats a 1-1 lead early in the opening frame.

LET 1-1 at 9:24 - Jett Jones (20), assisted by Tyson Laventure and Cole Shepard (PP) // The Hurricanes worked the puck around the Pats zone and somehow a pair of players snuck behind the Pat defenders and Jones was able to tap the puck past Sim to tie the game at 1-1.

REG 2-1 at 11:11 - Tanner Howe (31), assisted by Zack Stringer and Stanislav Svozil (PP) // Svozil attempted a slap shot attempt broke his stick apart and the puck went wide of the Hurricanes net, bounced off the back boards towards Stringer who tapped it to Howe who made no mistake to restore the Pats lead, now up 2-1.

REG 3-1 at 16:44 - Braxton Whitehead (9), unassisted // Thomson grabbed the puck behind his net but misplayed it and Whitehead made the Hurricanes netminder pay as he wrapped it around into the wide-open cage to give the Pats a 3-1 lead in the latter stages of the first period.

Second Period

LET 3-2 at 3:27 - Miguel Marques (7), assisted by Logan McCutcheon and Tyson Zimmer // The Hurricanes worked the puck into the Pats zone and Marques got free in front of Sim and made the Pats pay as he tucked it home to pull the Hurricanes back to within one at 3-2.

LET 3-3 at 13:26 - Tyson Zimmer (17), assisted by Chase Pauls // Zimmer threw the puck toward the Pats net and it bounced off a sliding Pats defender and past Sim to tie the game up at 3-3.

REG 4-3 at 18:32 - Tye Spencer (11), assisted by Sam Oremba and Borya Valis (PP) // Oremba raced into the Hurricanes zone, took the puck deep, and fed a pass in front to Spencer who chipped it past Thomson to give the Pats a 4-3 lead late on the middle frame.

Third Period

LET 4-4 at 17:38 - Joe Arntsen (10), assisted by Blake Swetlikoff // Swetlikoff's shot bounced off a Pats player in front of Sim right to Arntsen who got in close and behind the defence, and slipped the puck past the Pats goalie to tie it up at 4-4 late in the game.

Overtime

LET 4-5 at 3:39 - Logan McCutcheon (3), unassisted // The Pats had multiple opportunities in the extra frame but to no avail, McCutcheon carried the puck the other way and with speed fired a wrist shot past Sim to give the Hurricanes a 5-4 win.

STATISTICS

SOG: REG - 9-7-8-2-26 | LET - 15-13-10-1-39

PP: REG - 3/6 | LET - 1/6

Face-Offs: REG - 31 | LET - 38

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Regina: Drew Sim (39 shots/34 saves)

Lethbridge: Bryan Thomson (26 shots/22 saves)

3 STARS

First: Zimmer (1G-1A) - Hurricanes

Second: Shepard (1A) - Hurricanes

Third: Sim (34 saves) - Pats

NOTES

Connor Bedard scored his 61st of the season and leads the league with 125 points on the season (61G-64A). He also leads the WHL in goals (61), assists (64), and shots on goal (322). He has 33 goals, 27 assists, and 60 points in 20 games since returning from the World Juniors. He is the first Pats player to score 60 or more goals in a season since Ronald Petrovicky scored 64 in 1997-98.

Tanner Howe ended a mini two-game point slump when he scored his 31st of the season. He has 18 points (8G-10A) in his last 13 games.

Stanislav Svozil notched an assist to give him 63 on the season which places him second overall in the league and first amongst defencemen. He has 36 points (5G-31A) in 21 games since returning from the World Juniors.

Zack Stringer had two helpers and has eight points (1G-7A) in his last eight games.

Braxton Whitehead scored once and has 14 points (6G-8A) in his last 21 games dating back to January 13th.

Borya Valis had an assist and has four points (2G-2A) in his last four games.

Tye Spencer scored once and is on a three-game point streak (2G-1A) and has eight points (4G-4A) in his last 12 games.

With his second-period assist, Sam Oremba has 11 points (5G-6A) in his last 16 games.

UP NEXT

The Pats finish up their two-game trek on Saturday, March 11th, they visit the Tigers in Medicine Hat with an 8:00 pm (SK time) puck-drop. The Pats' next home action is Wednesday, March 15th when they host the Brandon Wheat Kings with a 7:00 pm start time.

Check out the Regina Pats Statistics

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Western Hockey League Stories from March 10, 2023


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