RECAP: Wheat Kings Storm Back to Edge Pats
Final Score: Pats 4, Wheat Kings 6
Record: 16-18-1
Standings: 5th-place, East Division
Regina, Sask. — The Regina Pats’ hot start wasn’t enough on Friday night against the Brandon Wheat Kings, as they saw three separate two-goal leads disappear in an eventual 6-4 loss on home ice.
Borya Valis scored two first period goals, and Neithan Salame and Easton Armstrong each found the back of the net in the loss. Defenceman Stanislav Svozil stood out with a four-assist performance, including three primary helpers. Connor Bedard also had a two-assist night.
Vincent Iorio was named the game’s first star thanks to a five-point performance (2G-3A), while Nate Danielson (2G), Trae Johnson (1G) and Landon Roberts (empty-net goal) also scored.
The Wheat Kings power play was a big reason for their win, as it went 3-for-5.
Click for Boxscore | Click for Photo Gallery
THE GOALS
1st Period
REG 1-0 at 1:14 — Borya Valis (6), assisted by Stanislav Svozil (18) and Connor Bedard (17) // A beautiful tic-tac-toe play was finished off by Valis after a behind the back pass from Bedard to Svozil, who then backhanded it to Valis.
REG 2-0 at 12:29 —Borya Valis (7), assisted by Stanislav Svozil (19) and Neithan Salame (1) (PPG) // Svozil fed a pass through a bunch of sticks from the top of the right circle to Valis in the soft spot in the slot, who deflected it off Kruger and in to double the Pats lead.
2nd Period
BDN 1-2 at 4:02 — Vincent Iorio (5), assisted by Nolan Ritchie and Riley Ginnell (PPG)// Iorio’s snap shot from the point beat Kieper past the glove.
REG 3-1 at 4:20 — Neithan Salame (1), assisted by Stanislav Svozil (20) and Connor Bedard (18) // Bedard made a couple nice moves in the neutral zone and then fired a cross-ice pass ahead to Svozil at the offensive blue line. Svozil entered wide down the right side and put on the brakes, giving him enough space to find Salame across the ice at the face-off dot, where he beat Kruger five-hole.
BDN 2-3 at 11:31 — Vincent Iorio (6), assisted by Brett Hyland and Zakhar Polshakov (PPG) // Iorio let a bomb go from the middle point that beat Kieper past the blocker.
REG 4-2 at 15:34 — Easton Armstrong (3), assisted by Braxton Whitehead (5) and Stanislav Svozil (21) // Whitehead entered the offensive zone down the right wing and slipped a pass towards the middle for Armstrong, who quickly snapped it past Kruger to restore the two-goal lead.
BDN 3-4 at 18:49 — Trae Johnson (1), assisted Vincent Iorio // Johnson had a great individual effort, dangling around Evans and chipping it short side just under the crossbar.
BDN 4-4 at 19:54 — Nate Danielson (10), assisted by Vincent Iorio (PPG) // Danielson one-timed it from the top of the left circle on the power play to tie the game in the final seconds of the period.
3rd Period
BDN 5-4 at 0:53 — Nate Danielson (11), assisted by Ridly Greig and Vincent Iorio // Off a Pats turnover, Greig found Danielson heading to the net and connected for the tap-in, giving Brandon their first lead of the game.
BDN 6-4 at 19:31 — Landon Roberts (6), unassisted // Roberts hit the empty net with 29 seconds to go to seal the deal.
FINAL: Pats 4 | Wheat Kings 6
STATISTICS
SOG: REG — 27 | BDN — 23
PP: REG — 1/2 | BDN — 3/5
Faceoffs: REG — 39 | BDN — 26
GOALTENDING BATTLE
Regina: Matthew Kieper stopped 17 of 22 shots he faced.
Brandon: Ethan Kruger made 23 saves on 27 shots.
THEY SAID IT
Pats HC & GM John Paddock: “I thought in the third period it just showed a little bit of our youth. Needed a little bit more maturity. We turned the puck over when they ended up getting the winning goal. And for quite a bit of the [third] period we turned the puck over in the neutral zone. They switched it up. They backed off a little bit and had four guys back, and we couldn’t make the plays that we were making earlier because of their guys back. So we couldn’t put it in and it ended up costing us.”
IMAGE OF THE GAME
What a Start. The Pats were on a roll to kick off this one, with Borya Valis slamming home the game’s first goal just 1:15 into the game (Keith Hershmiller Photography).
3 STARS
Vincent Iorio — BDN – 2G, 3A
Stanislav Svozil — REG – 4A
Nate Danielson— BDN – 2G
UP NEXT
The Pats head to Moose Jaw for their first road game since December 18 tomorrow night and then host the Saskatoon Blades on Wednesday, February 2.
