Blades’ Maier stymies Pats in shootout
It was a weekend of mixed results for the Regina Pats.
Michael Farren ended it in the seventh round of the shootout on Sunday as the Saskatoon Blades beat the Pats 2-1 at SaskTel Centre. That made a winner of netminder Nolan Maier, who had a brilliant 38-save effort en route to first-star honours.
It was the third game in three days for the Pats (29-23-5-1), who opened the weekend Friday with a disappointing 4-2 loss to the visiting Kootenay Ice. That was followed by a 4-2 win over the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Saturday night at the Brandt Centre.
With Sunday’s win, Saskatoon improved to 28-26-2-1 and climbed within five points of Regina in the battle for the top wild-card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Saskatoon’s Logan Christensen opened the scoring with a powerplay goal 6:12 into the first period. It remained a 1-0 game until 3:25 into the third when Matt Bradley stepped in from the point and blasted a slapshot past Maier.
That set the stage for a wild 3-on3 overtime session featuring several great saves by Maier as well as Regina’s Max Paddock, who helped extend the game to a shootout.
Maier ultimately got the last word, stopping five of seven breakaway attempts. Paddock stopped four of seven and was named the second star following Regina’s first shootout game of the campaign. Regina outshot the Blades 39-29. It was the second consecutive start for Paddock, who got the call on back-to-back nights with veteran Ryan Kubic out due to illness. Paddock was the game’s first star on Saturday, stopping 33 of 35 shots versus the Hurricanes.
Regina’s Libor Hajek opened the scoring 4:04 into the contest but Logan Barlage tied it on the power play with 2:05 left in the first period.
Regina’s Sam Steel took over in the second period, starting with a great individual effort to set up Bradley’s goal 2:23 into the frame. Steel added a power-play marker of his own with 4:51 left in the second for the eventual game winner and Cale Fleury added some insurance with a short-handed marker 3:17 into the third.
Lethbridge’s Brad Morrison rounded out the scoring with 14 seconds left in the game.
The Pats’ next three games will come against the league-leading Moose Jaw Warriors. The teams meet Wednesday at the Brandt Centre and Friday at Mosaic Place before wrapping up the weekend Feb. 18 in Regina.