PATS UPSET BLADES 3-2

Regina, Sask. — The Regina Pats played arguably their best defensive game of the season on Wednesday night, which led to a crucial 3-2 win over the visiting Saskatoon Blades.

The Pats limited the Blades to just 23 shots on goal, including 13 in the first two periods. Multiple players sacrificed their body in the game, especially in the final couple minutes with the team holding a lead.

Borya Valis, Logan Linklater and Ryker Evans scored in the win, with Cole Dubinsky and Logan Nijhoff each picking up a pair of assists.

Drew Sim was solid all night, finishing with 21 saves on 23 shots.

Managing the puck, shot blocks, being hard to play against in our d-zone: those are all things that we’ve been hammering home in the this last month,” Pats assistant coach Brad Herauf said after the game. “That’s playoff hockey mentality. We’re not the biggest team in there world, but we can compete. Blocking shots doesn’t take size or strength, it just takes willingness and we had more guys willing to do it tonight.”

Regina went ahead 1-0 after one period following a beautiful tic-tac-toe goal from Borya Valis.

In the second, Linklater scored his first as a Pat off a saucer feed from Connor Bedard.

Evans’ scored on the power play early in the third to make it 3-0, before the Blades scored twice to make things tight.

“If you look at the way we dominated 5-on-5 [and] if you look at how bad we wanted it tonight, that’s the biggest thing,” Linklater said. “If you just look at our bench and how alive we were and how much energy we had, I mean, that’s everything, right? Those are the moments in hockey where, those will win or lose you games.”

Regina’s power play went 1-for-2, while their penalty kill went perfect 2-for-2.

Unfortunately for the Pats, they still sit in 11th place in the Eastern Conference standings with 53 points, after Swift Current, Prince Albert and Calgary all won. The Pats are now five points back of the 8th-place Lethbridge Hurricanes.

(ReginaPats.com)