Pats Win in OT

 

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By Trevor Kenney, Lethbridge Herald

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This time there was no argument.

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Regina Pats’ J.D. Watt thought he had a go-ahead goal with just over eight minutes to play in the third period, only to have it waived off. When he took Scott Doucet’s feed and banked a shot off Michael Maniago’s glove 2:55 into overtime, there was no mistake and the Pats had stolen a 3-2 decision from the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
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“I asked him what he said to the ref when he went by and he just smiled and said ‘that’s karma’ and I was real proud with the way our team responded to that,” Pats head coach Curtis Hunt said, his club improving to 31-15-3-1 on the season.
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Watt had earlier tried to bank a bad-angle shot off Maniago’s pads to break the tie and after a long consultation between the four-man officiating crew and a goal judge, the bid was denied. The Pats argued, but obviously to no avail.
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“After we were done arguing and the puck had dropped for the next play there was nothing we could do about that and our coaches reminded us of that,” Watt said. “Our focus was to go and get the next one and it took another five minutes and overtime to do it but we got the job done.”
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It was a disappointing loss for the Hurricanes (28-14-2-3), who led 2-1 briefly in the third before giving up tying and winning goals that were remarkably similar. Jordan Eberle got the equalizer at the 5:13 mark when he beat defenceman Ben Wright off the rush and tapped in a Michael McAngus feed to the back post.
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Watt’s winner came when he beat another veteran d-man, this time Jeff May, also to the back side.
r“Disappointing to give up a third-period lead,” head coach Michael Dyck said. “I thought we weren’t as solid in front of our own net tonight as we have been in the last couple games and that cost us.
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“Two veteran guys got beat but we also needed some other veteran guys to step up for us tonight. I thought (Saturday) night Mitch Fadden’s line was the difference and tonight we needed more from those guys.”
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The ’Canes controlled the better part of period one, running up a 10-4 shots edge before Regina rallied late. Cam Braes had the best scoring chance when he made a wrap-around bid, then had his rebound opportunity blocked in the slot. Regina countered with a late Rudolf Cerveny opportunity but Maniago slid calmly to his right to deny the shot.
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Regina grabbed a 1-0 lead midway through the second when Tim Kraus found a dead spot in the high slot, took an Eberle feed and wired a slapper under the crossbar for his 11th goal of the season.
rLethbridge appeared to be on its heels and took a penalty on the next shift but a solid kill reenergized the home side and shortly after the ’Canes tied things. A well executed faceoff play led to Mitch Versteeg’s point shot and rebound that Carter Ashton buried between the pads of Jeff Bosch for the equalizer.
rCarter Bancks then opened the third with his seventh goal of the season, a wrap-around try that banked off a prone Bosch and gave the ’Canes a leg up.
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It’s real tough, I thought we played great at times tonight and then a lot of times our effort wasn’t quite there and our consistency and that’s what cost us the game,” Bancks said.
rThree meetings with Regina have now produced a trio of one-goal losses, although the Hurricanes have still managed a pair of points in those losses.
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“They’re a veteran team, they’ve built for this year and they’ve got some confidence, especially in those situations where it comes down to a minute and I thought maybe at times we looked a little nervous,” Dyck said. “We maybe gave them a little too much respect off the rush and allowed them to penetrate our zone as opposed to make them work for their chances.”
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