The Regina Pats finished with a strong third period, making things interesting in a 5-3 loss to the Saskatoon Blades on Saturday at the SaskTel Centre.
Trailing 5-1 through 40 minutes of play, the Pats scored twice early in the third to bring them within two. After killing off a five-minute penalty, Caden Brown and Reese Hamilton scored less than a minute apart, which changed the game's complexion. Brown followed up with two posts before the Pats came up short with the net empty.
The Pats outshot the Blades in two of three periods. Ashton Brown scored his first with the Pats, tying the contest up at 1-1 early in the first. Ewan Huet made 25 saves.
Ethan McCallum grabbed the win for the Blades, stopping 24 of 27. Tanner Scott (2G), Hayden Harsayni (2G) and Kazden Mathies (1G-1A) scored for the Blades in their fourth straight win.
FINAL SCORE: Blades 5, Pats 3
THE GOALS
First Period
1-0: Blades at 1:31 – Tanner Scott (9), assisted by Brayden Klimpke & Hudson Kibblewhite // Klimpke’s shot went wide to the left of the Pats net, and the puck caromed out to the front of the net, and Scott buried the loose puck to give the Blades a 1-0 lead.
1-1: Pats at 2:38 – Ashton Brown (2), assisted by Zachary Lansard & John Babcock // Lansard got a pass to Brown in front of the Blades net; his first shot was stopped, but he banged home the rebound to tie the game up at 1-1.
2-1: Blades at 4:18 – Hayden Harsanyi (6), assisted by Rowan Calvert & Tyler Parr // Calvert, found a wide-open Harsanyi in the Pats slot, and he fired a shot that beat Huet low to the blocker side to restore the Blades lead at 2-1.
3-1: Blades at 0:00 – Kazden Mathies (6), assisted by Isaac Poll & Jack Kachkowski // Huet stopped the initial shot but the puck bounced to Mathies to the left of the Pats net where he corralled the puck, and he was able to chip it off Huet and in to make it 3-1 Blades.
Second Period
4-1: Blades at 10:15 – Tanner Scott (10), assisted by Kazden Mathies // The Blades broke into the Pats zone with speed where Mathies found Scott behind the defence. Scott then made no mistake as he buried it past Huet to make it 4-1.
5-1: Blades at 15:07 – Hayden Harsanyi (7), unassisted // A turnover along the right boards in the Pats zone ended up on Harsanyi’s stick and he cut to the slot and fired the puck past Huet to make it 5-1.
Third Period
5-2: Pats at 4:28 – Caden Brown (16), assisted by Cohen Klassen // The Pats broke in on a two-on-one, and Brown decided to shoot, and he ripped a puck high blocker side past McCallum to stop the bleeding and get the Pats to within three at 5-2.
5-3: Pats at 5:21 – Reese Hamilton (3), unassisted // Hamilton broke out from the Pats zone, went end to end and sent shot to the net from left circle that snuck through McCallum to pull the Pats to within a pair at 5-3.
THE STATISTICS
SOG: Regina – 11-7-9–27 | Saskatoon – 10-13-7–30
PP: Regina – 0/2 | Saskatoon – 0/2
THE GOALTENDING BATTLE
Regina: Ewan Huet (25 saves / 30 shots)
Saskatoon: Ethan McCallum (24 saves / 27 shots)
THE 3 STARS
First: Tanner Scott (2G) – Blades
Second: Hayden Harsanyi (2G) – Blades
Third: Kazden Mathies (1G-1A) – Blades
JUST NOTES
- Ashton Brown notched his first goal as a Pat. He now has a pair of points (1G-1A) in 10 games with the Queen City Kids. The goal was his first since Sept. 29.
- John Babcock ended a six-game pointless streak with a pair of assists.
- Zachary Lansard notched an assist. He now has points (1G-1A) in back-to-back games.
- Caden Brown scored his 16th of the season and 12th as a member of the Pats.
- Cohen Klassen ended a three-game pointless streak with an assist.
- Reese Hamilton ended a 17-game goalless drought with his second as a Pat and third of the season.
- The Pats are now 1-2-1 against the Blades this season.
- The Pats fell to 14-30-4-2 while the Blades improved to 27-16-3-3.
COMING UP
The Pats continue their five-game road swing with a matchup against the hometown Red Deer Rebels on Tuesday, February 11, in the first of a four-game Alberta tour.
