Big Second Period Fuels Pats win in Lethbridge

First Period
The Pats rolled into Lethbridge looking to get back on a winning track against the Hurricanes while the home-side hoped to snap a nine game losing skid.  The Hurricanes got a boost for the game as Captain Josh Derko returned to the lineup after a long absence due to injury.  The visitors opened the scoring when Chandler Stephenson pushed the puck ahead to Morgan Klimchuk who put the puck off the pad of Teagan Sacher.  The rebound skipped out to Dyson Stevenson who shoveled home his 36^th goal of the season four minutes in.  After starting the play in the Pats zone, and taking a hit to do so, Stephenson left the game.  Four and a half minutes later, the puck was sitting in the Pats’ crease and Josh Derko made his presence felt, barreling to the goal and chipping the puck by Dawson MacAuley to tie the game.  The Pats continued to pepper Sacher who was brilliant in stopping Boston Leier on a great end to end rush, then Klimchuk in front and Dryden Hunt off a great chance.  When the dust settled, Sacher had stopped 17 shots and brought his team to the break tied 1-1 despite being outshot 18-3.

Second Period
The middle frame opened with another Pats flurry, but they were once again turned away by Teagan Sacher.  That set up the Hurricanes to come back with their own pressure and Dawson MacAuley would post his own strong showing.  The ‘Canes jumped onto the powerplay and had a quick grouping of chances, but couldn’t find a way to get one to the back of the net.  With time winding down on the penalty kill, Patrick D’Amico chipped the puck out of the zone, skated on to it and fed a streaking Braden Christoffer.  Christoffer pulled the puck from his forehand to his backhand across the crease to beat Sacher and put the Pats up 2-1.  The floodgates opened after that as Hunt fed Logan McVeigh cross-ice for a quick strike just one minute later.  Shortly after their third goal, the Blue and White went to the powerplay and got a fortuitous bounce off a skate straight to Leier who snapped the puck to the far side of the net.  With time dwindling in the period, Klimchuk went cross-ice for Colby Williams who settled down the puck and flipped it past the glove of Sacher and just inside the post to give Regina a 5-1 lead after two period.

Third Period
The third period became a tough one for the Pats.  Colby Williams was hit into the boards which resulted in a boarding penalty to Josh Derko and Williams leaving the game.  Shortly after, Kyle Burroughs stepped up on Carter Folk, but got the worst of the hit and went down to the ice hard and left the game as well.  Carter Hansen dropped back to his old position on the back-end to help the shorthanded defence.  The Pats faced three Lethbridge powerplays and would surrender one powerplay marker when Derko tipped a Brady Ramsay shot by Dawson MacAuley for his second of the game.  That was all the Hurricanes would be able to muster and the score would wrap up 5-2 in favour of the Pats.  With the Red Deer Rebels winning 4-1 over the Swift Current Broncos, the Pats regained a five point advantage atop the East Division standings.

Next Game: at Kootenay – Saturday, March 8^th – 8:00 p.m. CST (CKRM)

Next Home Game: vs. Prince Albert – Wednesday, March 12^th – 7:00 p.m. (CKRM)