Pats bounce back with 6-2 win to tie series at 2

It was a score Pats fans had become accustomed to seeing in the regular season but hadn’t seen much of lately.

After a rough outing against the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Tuesday night, the Pats stormed back into the Enmax Centre Wednesday with a dominant 6-2 performance.

“I thought we came ready to play a lot better than last night,” said Sam Steel, who had two assists in the Pats win.  “We played more our style of play … tonight I think we just found another level.”

Another level that included some help from some players who aren’t often front of mind when it comes to the Pats high-flying offence. 

The Pats went on the powerplay 11 seconds into the first period, and again about five minutes in, but their first goal didn’t come until about halfway through the first.

Braydon Buziak batted in a shot by Chase Harrison, netting his first goal of the playoffs and giving Pats the early lead.

Then in the second, after the Hurricanes had tied the game up at one, Jeff de Wit – playing in place of an injured Austin Wagner received a stupendous pass from Adam Brooks and sent the puck between Stuart Skinner’s pad and elbow to give the Pats back the lead.

The Hurricanes and Ryan Vandervlis responded quickly to tie the game just 34 seconds later, but the Pats didn’t panic, they just kept pushing.

“I think things started turning in the second for us,” said de Wit after the game. “I think we opened up things a bit more, we started playing more in their end and getting pucks to the net like we talked about.”

And by the end of the period, Regina was rewarded twice more for their persistence.

First by Adam Brooks at 18:06 when his shot went off a Lethbridge player’s skate and slid past Skinner and then by Leedahl with just 44 seconds left in the period.

The Pats went into the second intermission with momentum solidly on their side and kept it, netting two more goals in the third period and holding off the Hurricanes’ push to shut them out in the third period.

The teams will now return to Regina for game five on Friday night.

Puck drop is at 7 p.m. at the Brandt Centre, though tickets are already sold out.

The game will be televised on Shaw TV and Access Communications.

— with files from Patrick Burles, Lethbridge News Now

OF NOTE:

• Adam Brooks now has three game wgame-winning in the post-season.
• The Pats scored their first powerplay goal of the series Wednesday night.
• Austin Wagner was not in the lineup for the Pats after leaving injured in game three.
• After taking a roughing penalty in the third, it appears Lethbridge captain Tyler Wong accused a Pat of biting his finger in the aftermath; something he took up with the referees again after the game was over.