The Regina Pats doubled down on taking home-ice advantage away from the Saskatoon Blades with a 6-5 overtime victory Sunday at SaskTel Centre.
Zack Stringer converted Alexander Suzdalev’s centring pass for his second goal of the game, both on the power play, at 2:58 of the fourth period to give the Pats a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarter-final series with the next two games in Regina. The Bridge City Bunch battled all game long to come-from-behind and finally took their first lead of the series just before the nine minute-mark of the third period when Vaughn Watterodt scored on the rebound of a wide shot from the blueline, sending most of the 10,598 fans at SaskTel Centre into a frenzy. However, Connor Bedard’s third goal of the game, and fifth of the series, forced overtime with 8:50 remaining in regulation time. Bedard added two assists for five points and eight points for the series. The Blue and Gold deserved a better outcome, out-shooting the Pats 47-19, including 19-2 in the third period. Besides Watterodt, the Blades got goals from Justin Lies, Lukas Hansen, Josh Pillar and Jayden Wiens. Wiens and Watterodt each added an assist. Stanislav Svozil scored the other goal for Regina while Suzdalev chipped in four assists. Games 3 and 4 in the Queen City are scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday at 7 o’clock with CJWW’s broadcast both evenings beginning at 6:45 p.m. Following is the official game summary, the audio highlights from CJWW’s broadcast and Post-Game Show comments from head coach Brennan Sonne and Watterodt…..
Regina Pats 6 (OT) at Saskatoon Blades 5 – Status: Final OT
Sunday, April 2, 2023 – SaskTel Centre – Saskatoon, SK
Regina 2 2 1 1 – 6
Saskatoon 1 2 2 0 – 5
1st Period-1, Regina, Svozil 2 (Suzdalev, Bedard), 5:08. 2, Regina, Bedard 3 (Svozil, Suzdalev), 13:33. 3, Saskatoon, Lies 1 (Sidorov), 18:01. Penalties-Brown Reg (cross checking), 4:43; Chiasson Sas (roughing), 4:43; Wong Sas (hooking, 10-minute misconduct), 6:24; Brown Reg (cross checking), 8:43; Ginnell Reg (tripping), 10:46.
2nd Period-4, Saskatoon, Hansen 2 (Watterodt), 2:48. 5, Regina, Stringer 1 (Bedard), 5:32 (PP). 6, Saskatoon, Pillar 1 6:42. 7, Regina, Bedard 4 (Barnett), 12:31. Penalties-Bedard Reg (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 0:14; Watterodt Sas (high sticking), 4:31; Wright Sas (checking from behind), 13:57.
3rd Period-8, Saskatoon, Wiens 1 (Gustafson, Chiasson), 8:32. 9, Saskatoon, Watterodt 1 (Wright, Wiens), 8:50. 10, Regina, Bedard 5 (Bateman, Suzdalev), 11:10. Penalties-Barnett Reg (checking from behind), 14:47.
OT Period-11, Regina, Svozil 3 (Suzdalev, Howe), 2:58 (PP). Penalties-Roulette Sas (tripping), 2:05.
Shots on Goal-Regina 6-9-3-1-19. Saskatoon 16-11-20-0-47.
Power Play Opportunities-Regina 2 / 4; Saskatoon 0 / 4.
Goalies-Regina, Sim (47 shots-42 saves). Saskatoon, Elliott (13 shots-9 saves); Chadwick (6 shots-4 saves).
A-10,598
Referees-Adam Bloski (16), Bryce Sebastian (64).
Linesmen-Devan Thiessen (94), Levi Schutz (110).
