The Regina Pats and Brandon Wheat Kings battled in a similar scripted game from Friday. This time, Brandon edged Regina 4-3 in overtime on Saturday at Westoba Place. The Pats split their weekend with the Wheat Kings, earning three of four points on the road.
The Pats had a 2-1 lead after one and were tied 3-3 going into the third period before entering the extra frame with the exact same score as Friday’s contest, where Regina won 4-3. This time, it was Dominik Petr capitalizing on Brandon’s fifth power play to break their three-game skid.
Cameron Kuzma scored his first WHL goal, while Braxton Whitehead (1G-1A) and Tye Spencer (2A) each tallied multi-point games. For Spencer, he picked up his 100th career point in his 200th career game. Connor Bear scored for a second straight game, and Ewan Huet made 40 saves, which is by far his best start of the season.
Matteo Michels, Rhett Ravendahl and Marcus Nguyen rounded out the scoring for Brandon, while Ethan Eskit made 21 saves.
FINAL SCORE: Wheat Kings 4, Pats 3 (OT)
THE GOALS
First Period
1-0: Pats at 9:09 – Cameron Kuzma (1), assisted by Anthony Wilson // Kuzma gained the zone and got the puck to Wilson, who fanned on the shot, but the puck went back to Kuzma, who buried his first career marker to give the Pats a 1-0 lead midway through the opening stanza.
1-1: Wheat Kings at 11:30 – Matteo Michels (5), assisted by Dominik Petr & Charlie Elick // Petr carried the puck behind the Pats net and had time to find Michels in the slot where he got enough on the shot to beat Huet to even the game at 1-1.
2-1: Pats at 15:43 – Connor Bear (4), assisted by Braxton Whitehead & Tye Spencer // Whitehead, faked a wraparound to the left of Eskit, brought the puck back to the other side where his centering pass found Bear, who tapped it past the Wheat Kings netminder to make it 2-1 for the Pats.
Second Period
2-2: Wheat Kings at 2:29 – Rhett Ravendahl (1), assisted by Easton Odut // The Wheat Kings got the puck deep in the Pats zone, and it eventually go worked to the point where Ravendahl let a shot fly, and it somehow beat a screened Huet to tie the game up at 2-2.
3-2: Wheat Kings at 8:21 – Marcus Nguyen (11), assisted by Jaxon Jacobson // Off the rush, the Wheat Kings gained the Pats zone, and the puck got directed to the middle of the ice where the initial shot was stopped but the puck deflected in off a Pats defender’s stick and past Huet to give the Wheat Kings their first lead of the game at 3-2.
3-3: Pats at 9:03 – Braxton Whitehead (3), assisted by Tye Spencer // Spencer gained the zone and ended up on a two-on-one where he out-waited the sprawling Wheat Kings defender and sent a pass in front to Whitehead who made no mistake to even the game up at 3-3.
Third Period
No Scoring.
Overtime
4-3: Wheat Kings at 3:32 – Dominik Petr (6), assisted by Jaxon Jacobson & Marcus Nguyen (PP) // The original shot bounced off the back boards to Jacobson who found Petr cross ice and he wired it home to give the Wheat Kings a 4-3 win.
THE STATISTICS
SOG: Regina – 10-9-4-1–24 | Brandon – 14-17-8-5–44
PP: Regina – 0/1 | Brandon – 1/5
THE GOALTENDING BATTLE
Regina: Ewan Huet (40 saves / 44 shots)
Brandon: Ethan Eskit (21 saves / 24 shots)
THE 3 STARS
First: Matteo Michels (1G) – Wheat Kings
Second: Huet (40 Saves) – Pats
Third: Marcus Nguyen (1G-1A) – Wheat Kings
COMING UP
The Pats are back home on November 20 when they host the Tri-City Americans. The plays will then play their next eight games away from the Brandt Centre.
