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WHL Regina Pats

Whitehead's Late Game Heroics Leads Pats Past Canes

March 12, 2022 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Regina Pats News Release


Regina Pats celebrate a win against the Lethbridge Hurricanes
Regina Pats celebrate a win against the Lethbridge Hurricanes
(Regina Pats)

Regina, Sask. - The Regina Pats picked up a massive two points on Friday night, thanks to a 4-3 regulation win over the Lethbridge Hurricanes in front of 3,735 fans at the Brandt Centre.

Pats forward Braxton Whitehead scored the game-winning-goal with under five minutes remaining in the third period, breaking a 3-3 deadlock.

Also scoring for the Pats were Cole Dubinsky, Zack Stringer and Connor Bedard. Bedard increased his point streak to 16 games, which is the longest current streak in the WHL. He has 33 points during that span (15G-18A). Logan Nijhoff returned from injury, playing in his first game since February 21, and tallied a pair of assists, while Stringer was playing in his first game since January 18. Matthew Kieper also returned from injury and got the victory, stopping 21 of the 24 shots he faced.

The Hurricanes got goals from Justin Hall, Jett Jones and Nolan Bentham.

Regina went 1-for-2 on the power play, but allowed two power play goals.

The shots on goal in the contest favoured the Canes 24-22.

With the two points, the Pats are now two points out of the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference, currently held by Prince Albert (48 points). The Pats do have games in hand on P.A. (two), Calgary (three) and Swift Current (four), all of whom are just ahead of them in the standings.

THE GOALS

1st Period

LET 1-0 at 6:47 - Justin Hall (30), assisted by Yegor Klavdiev and Logan McCutcheon (PPG) // Hall re-directed in a shot along the ice from the bumper spot on the power play.

REG 1-1 at 10:39 - Cole Dubinsky (14), assisted by Neithan Salame (5) and Braxton Whitehead (6) // Dubinsky threw the puck on net from a bad angle that beat Thomson to even the score.

REG 2-1 at 17:54 - Zack Stringer (9), assisted by Connor Bedard (36) and Logan Nijhoff (20) (PPG) // Stringer batted the puck out of the air after Bedard's shot deflected off a stick and went into the air.

2nd Period

REG 3-1 at 1:58 - Connor Bedard (35), assisted by Tanner Howe (29) and Ryker Evans (40) // Bedard was given a clear path to the net off the rush after a backhand pass from Howe and was able to cut to his forehand to avoid the poke check and slide it in for his 35th of the season.

LET 2-3 at 19:58 - Jett Jones (17), assisted by Logan McCutcheon and Justin Hall (PPG) // In the dying seconds of the period, Jones backhanded in a rebound after a shot from the outside.

3rd Period

LET 3-3 at 7:35 - Nolan Bentham (3), assisted by Yegor Klavdiev // A one-timer from Bentham from the left point beat Kieper on the blocker side to tie the game.

REG 4-3 at 15:30 - Braxton Whitehead (7), assisted by Cole Dubinsky (18) and Logan Nijhoff (21) // Dubinsky drove the net after coming down the right wing side, but was stopped, however he got his own rebound and left a pass for Whitehead, who quickly fired it blocker side past Thomson.

FINAL: Pats 4 | Hurricanes 3

STATISTICS

SOG: REG - 22 | LET - 24

PP: REG - 1/2 | LET - 2/5

Face-Offs: REG - 39 | LET - 29

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Regina: Matthew Kieper got the win in his first start since February 6, after stopping 21 of 24.

Lethbridge: Bryan Thomson allowed four goals on 22 shots.

THEY SAID IT

Pats Assistant Coach Brad Herauf: "Well, that's been the mission all week, since we lost that last game last Saturday, we've been building for this moment. Didn't always go as we scripted, but that's the good thing about our team: that we've shown some maturity in the way we went about our business through the 60 minutes. Didn't always go our way, but we kept on bouncing back...I don't really think it flowed very much. I think there's some goals that both goalies would want to have back that kind of killed momentum for both teams and gave momentum to the other team. I think it was kind of jinky janky. And that's the way those guys kind of like to play those games: battle it out and grind it out. For us, we like to skate a little bit more. I just like the way that we were adapting our game throughout the game - it wasn't the prettiest thing, but we never sank. I didn't feel us sinking back or waiting to lose tonight. We kept on just trying to rise to the challenge and keep on pushing back."

Herauf on Whitehead: "You can't have enough Braxton Whiteheads on your team. He's a 200-foot player. He understand the clock; he understands the situation o the ice. So his puck plays and what he's doing with the puck are coming into that. Some guys are just out there making moves, making plays, but Braxton is such a thinker out there: he's honestly like another coach. At 17 years old, he's only going to get better for us and keep playing those important minutes."

Whitehead on his GWG: "It was just an adrenaline rush...it was similar to when I scored my first WHL goal. The lights turned off and on and everyone was screaming in the crowd. It was really exciting."

3 STARS

Connor Bedard - REG: 1G, 1A, 5 SOG

Justin Hall - LET: 1G, 1A, 3 SOG

Braxton Whitehead - REG: GWG, 1A, 2 SOG

UP NEXT

The Pats host Calgary on Saturday, March 12. For tickets, click here.

Next week they hit the road for three contests: Medicine Hat on Tuesday, Lethbridge on Wednesday and Moose Jaw on Saturday.

Check out the Regina Pats Statistics




Images from this story

Regina Pats centre Connor Bedard vs. the Lethbridge Hurricanes
Regina Pats centre Connor Bedard vs. the Lethbridge Hurricanes
 Regina Pats react after a goal against the Lethbridge Hurricanes
Regina Pats react after a goal against the Lethbridge Hurricanes
 Regina Pats celebrate a win against the Lethbridge Hurricanes
Regina Pats celebrate a win against the Lethbridge Hurricanes



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