Hitmen on brink of elimination after Pats coast to win
Steel continues to light lamp for Regina, while Brown a brick wall between pipes
The frustrating thing about needing a miracle is that they’re awfully hard to come by.
Down 2-0 in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Regina Pats, the Calgary Hitmen entered Tuesday night needing something special. They didn’t get it. Instead, the Pats put on a show that reminded the 6,736 fans at the Saddledome why they are the No. 1-ranked team in the country, routing the Hitmen 5-2 and taking a commanding 3-0 series lead.
Through three games, the Hitmen have now been outscored 15-5 by the Pats, and the odds are overwhelmingly against them pulling off an upset and somehow clawing their way back into the series.
The Pats are a powerhouse, after all, and they’re playing like one.
Leading the way for a third straight game was WHL regular season points-leader Sam Steel, who opened the scoring one minute into the first period, then doubled the Pats’ lead eight minutes later.
“It definitely wasn’t the start we need to come out with here with so much on the line,” Hitmen defenceman Jake Bean said. “It’s tough, I don’t think the mood was what it should have been. It’s one goal and it’s happened before and I think the guys maybe got a little too down there.”
Matt Sloboshan and Dawson Leedahl scored in the second to add to the Hitmen’s misery, and Steel would pour a little salt in the Calgary crew’s wounds by completing his hat trick with a short-handed marker a couple minutes into the third.
The Anaheim Ducks’ first-round pick from the 2016 NHL Entry Draft has been a thorn in the Hitmen’s side since Game 1 and now leads the WHL playoff scoring race with nine points through three games. He’s been the major reason why the Pats have so thoroughly outplayed the Hitmen.
“He’s obviously a talented player and sees the ice well and skates well,” Hitmen assistant coach Trent Cassan said. “He got some ice and took advantage of those opportunities.”
His ability to bury the puck in the back of the net is something the Hitmen have been sorely missing. The Calgarians fired 43 shots at Pats goalie Tyler Brown but couldn’t light the lamp until the third period, when Matteo Gennaro and Luke Coleman helped make the score a little more respectable.
There were other chances, too, especially in the second period when the Hitmen fired 16 shots at the Pats net, but Brown was simply too good.
If the Hitmen are going to have any chance of keeping their season alive when Game 4 rolls around Thursday (Saddledome, 7 p.m.), they’re going to need to get Brown off his game.
That’s easier said than done, but Hitmen captain Michael Zipp insisted it’s not impossible.
“It’s frustrating, and you’ve got to give a caps-off to him, too, but you’ve gotta get in his eyes,” Zipp said. “I think we’re not doing a good enough job of that right now, but for us, it’s just getting back to basics.”