The Regina Pats have proven to be a tough out on home ice thus far this season, and a second-period surge on Friday night saw to it that continued.
Regina scored six goals in the frame and would go on to a 6-2 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors at the Brandt Centre in Regina, taking their fifth-straight win at home.
Other action for Saskatchewan teams saw the Swift Current Broncos down the Lethbridge Hurricanes 3-1, Prince Albert Raiders edge the Everett Silvertips 3-2 and Saskatoon Blades fall 3-2 to the Edmonton Oil Kings.
Regina 6, Moose Jaw 2
Things looked good for Moose Jaw through the first half of the game, as early second-period goals from Rasmus Kamarainen and Riley Thorpe staked the visitors to a 2-1 lead.
Ossi Turkio had gotten Regina on the board at the 5:08 mark of the frame, and once the Pats got rolling in the latter half of the period, there was no stopping them.
Liam Pue was a large part of that, as the rookie forward scored three times and racked up four points in the frame. He now has 11 goals and 18 points on the campaign to sit tied for third in WHL scoring.
Zach Moore and Zach Lansard scored the other goals for Regina, who would end up with five goals in the span of 8:28 to close out the period.
Sam Karsay had three assists for the Pats, Reese Hamilton added a pair of helpers.
Mathieu Lajoie picked up two assists for Moose Jaw.
Taylor Tabashniuk turned aside 19 shots in the winning effort, Jordan Switzer had 27 saves for the Warriors and faced 20 shots in the second period alone.
Regina improves to 6-4-0-1 and are tied for fourth in the Eastern Conference, Moose Jaw falls to 4-6-0-0 and are in 11th.
Swift Current 3, Lethbridge 1
The Broncos continued their hot play as of late, building a 3-0 lead in the first half of the game before going on to their fifth-straight victory.
Trae Wilkie got things started for Swift Current 6:57 into the game, and 2:36 later Clarke Schaefer increased their lead to 2-0.
Zach Pantelakis then added an insurance marker 7:32 into the second.
That was more than enough offence for Broncos goaltender Cal Conway, who turned aside 34 of the 35 shots he faced on the night. His shutout bid was snapped by Dayne Beuker 22 seconds into the final frame.
Leif Oaten played the first 27:32 for the Hurricanes and stopped four shots, Koen Cleaver had 10 saves the rest of the way.
Swift Current is now 9-4-0-0 and tied for first place in the Conference, Lethbridge drops to 5-7-0-0 and are ninth.
Prince Albert 3, Everett 2
The Raiders built a 3-0 lead in the first period in the first meeting of the two WHL championship finalists from last season and would hang on for the win.
Kyle Obobaifo got things started 7:04 into the game, Brandon Gorzynski made it 2-0 only 15 seconds later and Jonah Sivertson made it a three goal lead with 6:17 to play in the opening frame.
Reid Nichol got one back for the Silvertips before the period was out and Jaxsin Vaughan got Everett within one 7:54 into the second, but they’d get no closer.
MIchal Orsulak had 31 saves for the Raiders, Bennett Byers turned aside 24 shots for Everett.
Prince Albert is now 3-6-1-2 and have points in their last four games to sit 10th in the Conference, Everett drops to 3-6-1-2 and are ninth in the Western Conference.
Edmonton 3, Saskatoon 2
Kanjyu Gojsic scored the eventual game-winning goal with 2:11 remaining in the third period to give the Oil Kings the narrow victory on home ice.
Cooper Williams opened scoring for the Blades with his sixth goal of the season 7:59 into the game, but Edmonton replied with a pair of second period goals to take the lead.
Kayden Stroeder got the Oil Kings on the board 2:38 into the period and Aaron Obobaifo made it a 2-1 game with 6:31 remaining.
Tyrone Sobry scored his first of the campaign to tie things up at with 9:32 gone in the third, and that’s where things would sit until Gojsic’s winner.
Martin Psohlavec had an 18-save outing for the Blades, Parker Snell made 34 stops for Edmonton.
Saskatoon falls to 6-4-1-0 and are tied for fourth in the Conference, Edmonton improves to 6-3-0-1 and are also in that fourth-place logjam.
Up Next
Three teams are in action on Saturday night as Prince Albert is at Swift Current (6 p.m., InnovationPlex) and Seattle is at Moose Jaw (6 p.m., Temple Gardens Centre).
