Julian Maze scored the shootout winner, and Kelton Pyne made two miraculous saves in overtime, leading the Pats to a 3-2 shootout victory over the Prince Albert Raiders on Saturday at the Brandt Centre.
The Pats completed their fourth comeback win this season as Maze slowly lifted the puck over Dimitri Fortin's shoulder in the shootout, breaking the Pats' four-game skid. All three Pats shooters scored in the shootout, leading to their second shootout win this season.
With Prince Albert leading 2-0 in the third, the Pats went to a five-on-three power play and got on the board. After Brad Herauf called a timeout, Keets Fawcett scored to bring the Pats within one. 23 seconds later, Cameron Kuzma would wack home a rebound to tie things up. Pyne recorded his 10th win of the season with 18 saves.
The Raiders' five-game winning streak ended with the loss. Brayden Dube and Lukas Dragicevic scored for Prince Albert, while Fortin made 29 saves.
FINAL SCORE: Pats 3, Raiders 2 (SO)
THE GOALS
First Period
1-0: Raiders at 7:45 – Brayden Dube (21), assisted by Tomas Mrsic & Aiden Oiring // A turnover just inside the Pats blueline had the puck end up on Mrsic's stick. He found an open Dube in front of the Pats net and his shot beat Pyne to give the Raiders a 1-0 lead.
Second Period
No scoring.
Third Period
2-0: Raiders at 55 seconds – Lukas Dragicevic (10), assisted by Tomas Mrsic & Daxon Rudolph (PP) // Dragicevic's point shot from the high slot got through a screened Pyne to extend the Raiders lead to 2-0 early in the third period.
2-1: Pats at 9:27 – Keets Fawcett (6), assisted by Julien Maze (PP) // Maze passed to Fawcett who cut across the high slot and beat Fortin with a wrister to get the Pats on the board down 2-1.
2-2: Pats at 9:50 – Cameron Kuzma (3), assisted by Jace Egland // Egland's shot from the right circle was misplayed by Fortin and Kuzma was there to tap it past the Raiders netminder to even the game at 2-2.
Overtime
No scoring.
Shootout
Raiders - Aiden Oiring - no goal
Pats - Zach Pantelakis - GOAL
Raiders - Tomas Mrsic - Goal
Pats - Caden Brown - GOAL
Raiders - Lukas Dragicevic - Goal
Pats - Julien Maze - GOAL
PATS WIN!
THE STATISTICS
SOG: Regina– 10-10-10-1–31 | Prince Albert – 7-5-5-3–20
PP: Regina – 1/3 | Prince Albert – 1/2
THE GOALTENDING BATTLE
Regina: Kelton Pyne (18 saves / 20 shots)
Prince Albert: Dimitri Fortin (29 saves / 31 shots)
THE 3 STARS
First: Jace Egland (1A) – Pats
Second: Tomas Mrsic (2A) – Raiders
Third: Zach Pantelakis (1G) – Pats
JUST NOTES
- Keets Fawcett scored his sixth of the season. He now has points (1G-1A) in back-to-back games.
- Cameron Kuzma scored his third of the season. He now has a pair of points (1G-1A) in his last three games.
- Julien Maze picked up an assist and now has points (4A) in three straight contests.
- Jace Egland had an assist and has three points (2G-1A) in his last five games
- The Pats has scored a power play goal in four straight games.
- The Pats improved to 2-2-0-1 against the Raiders this season.
- The Pats went to overtime/shootout for a 13th time this season which is the second most in the WHL. The Pats are 5-4 in overtime and 2-2 in shootouts.
- The Pats improved to 13-26-4-2 while the Raiders fell to 24-15-3-1.
COMING UP
The Queen City kids travel to Price Albert to face the Raiders in the in the return matchup on Wednesday, January 29. The Pats Return home for a pair of games next weekend at the Brandt Centre. On Friday, January 31 the Pats host the Red Deer Rebels and on Saturday, February 1, they host the Brandon Wheat Kings. Get your tickets at ReginaPats.com.
