Pats riding win streak heading into playoffs
The Regina Pats are officially on the road to the WHL playoffs.
With just five games left, the Pats are using their current road trip to galvanize themselves for the post-season — an approach that yielded three straight victories to begin their five-game jaunt.
The latest stop — a 6-3 decision over the Central Division-leading Medicine Hat Tigers — was the best example so far.
In fact, head coach/GM John Paddock called Tuesday’s win one of their most complete performances of the season.
“Our focus is to try and keep getting better,” said Paddock, whose team (36-25-5-1) concludes the trip this weekend with games against the Kootenay Ice (Friday) and Lethbridge Hurricanes (Saturday).
“I’ve talked about it long enough that it’s a process for us. Well, the playoffs are around the corner, so there’s no more process (when the regular season ends). It has to be right (and) dialed in.”
Paddock believes the Pats have improved each game on the trip.
They were “just OK” in a 3-2 overtime win over the Calgary Hitmen, who own the second-worst record in the league. That was followed by a strong 40 minutes in their 7-4 decision over the cellardwelling Edmonton Oil Kings.
Despite the win, Regina’s thirdperiod fizzle left the coaches with a “bad taste” in their mouths. It was quickly remedied by a strong 60-minute effort against Medicine Hat, helping the Pats climb above .500 on the road for the first time this season (15-14-3-1).
“We’re just trying to do the same stuff (this weekend),” said Paddock. “We’ll try and play a complete game. For the most part, we’ve been playing four lines. We’re keeping everybody relatively fresh. As good as we played, we’ll probably tweak the lineup a little bit to get other guys a little bit of ice time. Everybody needs to be playing and sharp.”
The emergence of Koby Morrisseau has given Regina an added luxury that deepens the lineup. The 17-year-old centre moved up to the No. 3 unit Tuesday and produced the first two-goal game of his WHL career. He also had an assist while playing between Jesse Gabrielle (one goal, one assist) and Robbie Holmes (one assist).
“That line had a really good game,” said Paddock. “We’re looking at different things, putting people in different positions to see if they can handle it.”
That includes Morrisseau, who was out of the lineup for more than a month after the sudden passing of his father. He returned in mid-February and has come on strong.
“Moe, for the most part, just keeps getting better,” said Paddock. “It’s somewhat of a bonus if he can maintain this against good teams. He’s a young player, but he’s a big guy with skill. He’s hard to handle. He’s going to have some dips — everybody does — but hopefully he can keep his level up.”
Note: G Ryan Kubic, who was injured Sunday, is tentatively scheduled to practise on Thursday. If all goes well, he might be available this weekend.