Hurricanes Fall 6-4 to Pats on Wednesday
Lethbridge, AB – The Lethbridge Hurricanes returned home for their first game in 19 days as they dropped a see-saw 6-4 battle to the Regina Pats at the ENMAX Centre.
The Hurricanes had a great start to the game outshooting the Pats 7-0 in the early going hold Regina to without a shot for over the first 12-minutes of the contest. Lethbridge opened the scoring at the 4:21 when Nolan Bentham beat Matthew Kieper with a long-range wrist shot for his fourth of the season to make it 1-0 Hurricanes; Yegor Klavdiev and Brayden Edwards earned the assists on the goal. Regina evened the score late in the frame when Connor Bedard extended his point streak to 19-straight games with a power play goal to make it 1-1 after twenty minutes. Hurricanes outshot the Pats 9-4 in the period.
Early in the second period, the Hurricanes pulled back ahead with a power play goal of their own when Klavdiev buried his 13th goal of the year just six seconds into the man-advantage to make it 2-1 Lethbridge; Logan McCutcheon and Jett Jones were credited with the assists on the goal. Regina answered as Bedard beat Bryan Thomson with a slowed-up shot for his 40th of the year and second of the game to make it 2-2. The Pats took their first lead as Logan Nijhoff banged home a loose puck for his 16th with 4:27 remaining in the middle frame as Regina held a 3-2 lead. Jared Picklyk replaced Thomson after the third Regina goal and stopped both shots he saw in the second period as the Pats held the one-goal lead after two periods. Lethbridge held the edge in shots 14-12 in the middle frame.
The see-saw battle continued in the third period as the ‘Canes tied the game at 3-3 when Justin Hall buried a centering pass from Alex Thacker just 7:23 into the frame. Hall added another on the same shift just 27-seconds last for his team-leading 33rd goal of the year to put Lethbridge ahead 4-3 – Hall now has 23 goals in the 23 home games he’s played this season. Just over two minutes later, the Pats evened the game as Neithan Salame buried a back-door tap-in on from Bedard to tie the game 4-4. Regina retook the lead four-minutes later when Layton Feist tipped home his seventh of the season to make it 5-4. The Pats added one more when Cole Dubinsky buried his 17th of the season to round out the scoring giving Regina a 6-4 victory.
The Hurricanes outshot the Pats 12-10 in the third period and 35-26 in the game. Lethbridge went 1/4 on the power play while Regina was 1/2 with the extra man.
Three stars of the game were:
1) Pats – #98 Connor Bedard (2 goals, 1 assist)
2) ‘Canes – #11 Yegor Klavdiev (1 goal, 1 assist)
3) Pats – #18 Cole Dubinsky (1 goal, 2 assist)
The loss for the Hurricanes was their fourth loss in their last five games. The ‘Canes are now 24-28-3-1 on the season as they remain seventh in the Eastern Conference standings.
The Hurricanes welcome the Red Deer Rebels on Friday at 7:00pm at the ENMAX Centre in the first of a home-and-home against their Central Division rivals. Tickets can be purchased in person at the ENMAX Centre Ticket Centre or the Yates Memorial Theatre Ticket Centre, by calling 403-329-SEAT (7328) or online at www.lethbridgehurricanes.com.
