The Regina Pats and Saskatoon Blades each turned in solid performances on home ice on Friday night, resulting in a pair of victories over Saskatchewan rivals in Western Hockey League action.
Regina built a four-goal lead before cruising to a 5-1 victory over the Prince Albert Raiders, while Saskatoon used a big second period to take a 7-4 win over the Moose Jaw Warriors. The Swift Current Broncos were also in action, falling 4-1 to the Kamloops Blazers as their B.C. Division swing continues.
Regina 5, Prince Albert 1
The Pats didn’t take all that long to take control of things, beginning with a Liam Pue power play goal only 5:41 into the proceedings.
Connor Bear scored his first of the season just under two minutes later and only 2:13 after that marker, Zach Lansard found the back of the net on the man advantage to make it 3-0 before the game was even 10 minutes old.
Maddox Schultz then found the back of the net for his first of the campaign with 7:05 gone in the second to make it a 4-0 contest.
Prince Albert got on the board when Eli Molde scored midway through the second, but Matt Paranych scored Regina’s third power play goal of the game with 9:18 to play in the game to close out scoring.
All that offence was more than enough for Regina goaltender Taylor Tabashniuk, who took first star honours after stopping 22 of the 23 shots he faced.
Pue finished with three points on the night, while Cohen Klassen picked up three assists. Schultz, Paranych and Lansard all had two points apiece.
Michal Orsulak had 22 stops for Prince Albert but left the game with 9:18 to play; Steele Bass stopped both shots he faced the rest of the way.
Regina improves to 3-2-0-1 and sit sixth in the Eastern Conference, Prince Albert 2-6-0-0 and are 11th overall.
Saskatoon 7, Moose Jaw 4
Things were close early between the two teams, as Saskatoon’s Cooper Williams and Moose Jaw’s Riley Thorpe exchanged goals four minutes apart early in the first for the only goals of the frame.
The club again had an answer for each other early in the second, as Williams gave the Blades a 2-1 lead 3:31 into the period, only for Noah Degenstein to tie things up 1:22 later.
Things weren’t as close from that point on.
Hayden Harsanyi restored Saskatoon’s lead at 9:20, Kazden Mathies scored on the power play with 4:40 remaining and Yegor Gusev found the back of the net 1:33 later to make it 5-2 Blades through two.
Saskatoon repeatedly shut down Moose Jaw’s comeback attempts in the third with goals of their own, beginning when Landen McFadden made it a two-goal game at 9:46, only for Jack Kachowski to respond for the Blades 40 seconds later.
Colt Carter scored for Moose Jaw 1:17 after that marker, but Kain Martinuik restored the three-goal edge with 4:22 remaining to wrap up the game’s offence.
Martin Psholavec stopped 19 shots in the winning effort, Dylan Mingo had 34 saves in the loss.
Saskatoon improves to 3-2-1-0 and are tied for sixth, Moose Jaw drops to 2-3-0-0 and are in 10th.
Kamloops 4, Swift Current 1
The Broncos played the penultimate game of their six-game road swing, and while the result was far better than the loss in Kelowna two nights earlier, they still were unable to find the win column.
The Blazers’ power play was a major reason for that, as they found the back of the net once in each period and ended up 3-for-4 overall.
Things started well for Swift Current, as Stephen Farushev opened scoring 9:22 into the proceedings, but River Arnason replied for Kamloops with 6:32 remaining to send the teams into the dressing room tied 1-1 after one.
Matteo Ferreira gave the Blazers a 2-1 lead with 5:20 left in the second before Colin Kim and Eli Tverdovsky scored the only goals in the third finish off the win.
Ferriera and Arnason each had two points.
Cal Conway had 40 saves for the Broncos, Logan Edmonstone stopped 20 for Kamloops.
Swift Current is now 4-4-0-0 overall and 2-3 on the road swing to sit tied for fourth in the Conference, Kamloops is now 3-3-1-0 and also tied for fourth in the Western Conference.
Up Next
Four Saskatchewan teams are back in action Saturday, with Prince Albert at Moose Jaw (6 p.m., Temple Gardens Centre) and Regina at Saskatoon (7 p.m., Brandt Centre).
