RECAP: Maier Stands Tall as Blades Sink Pats
Regina, Sask. — The Regina Pats dropped a 5-2 decision to the Saskatoon Blades on Friday night, suffering their sixth straight defeat. The Pats are now 2-6-0 on the season, while the Blades improve to 5-1-1 and have points in six straight.
The Regiment got goals from Cole Dubinsky and Connor Bedard, but there weren’t enough contributions throughout the lineup.
Blades Goaltender Nolan Maier had a standout performance with 37 saves and was named the game’s first star.
Click here for the WHL boxscore.
GAME SUMMARY
For the sixth consecutive game, the Pats surrendered the game’s first goal.
Defenceman Spencer Shugrue got his first goal in the WHL just past the halfway point of the period off a wrist shot from the top of the left circle.
Regina did have numerous chances in the first period, but found themselves down 1-0 after 2-0 minutes of play.
Just 53 seconds into the second period, Brendan Lee scored on a 3-on-2 rush to double the Blades lead to 2-0.
Under three minutes later, Pats forward Cole Dubinsky woke up the crowd after scoring his third of the season with a strong move to the net. Logan Nijhoff chipped the puck down the boards for Dubinsky, who powered his way in front and tucked it home, extending his point streak to seven games in the process.
Saskatoon didn’t take long to respond, however, as Egor Sidorov tipped home a point shot on the power play to give his team a 3-1 lead.
Just over a minute after Sidorov’s goal, Connor Bedard responded for the Pats with a great individual effort, as he anticipated a play at the blue line in his own zone, got in the lane, and used his speed to go the other and beat Maier with his quick release.
The Pats had life heading into the third period, but Maier had other plans.
He stopped Dubinsky and Bedard back-to-back point blank early in the third and stopped all 12 shots he saw in the final frame.
The Blades got insurance markers from Pavel Bocharov and Trevor Wong to make it a 5-2 final.
There wasn’t much special teams play in Friday’s contest, with the Pats not getting a single opportunity on the power play. The Blades went 1-for-1 on their man advantage.
THEY SAID IT
“Tonight, we put ourselves in a position to win with six forwards and three defencemen and that’s a really good sign: if we can do that, and play that hard, with that much character, and get that many opportunities and shots on net, with just that many guys. We didn’t have enough guys on board tonight doing things the right way. I don’t say that very often, but you also know that I’m very honest when things aren’t right. That wasn’t right. Our players, they know about it now…In the end, we shot, they saved. They shot, and scored. We had lots of really, really good opportunities. It’s just the way things are going for us right now. We have to get off of this train here.” – Pats HC Dave Struch
3 STARS
- Nolan Maier — SAS – 37/39, 95th career win
- Moritz Elias — SAS – 2A
- Cole Dubinsky — REG – 1G, 8 SOG
WHAT’S NEXT
The Pats head to Saskatoon for their next game this Sunday, Oct. 24 in a 4 p.m. matinee. Next week Regina will play a home-and-home with the Swift Current Broncos.
Get get tickets for the Pats next home game on Oct. 30, click here. For the full Pats schedule, click here.
