Pats unable to overcome early penalties, lose to Broncos

Early penalties put the Regina Pats in a hole they couldn’t quite dig themselves out of against the Swift Current Broncos Wednesday night at the Brandt Centre.

The game against the Broncos was the Pats’ second home game of the year, after defeating the Brandon Wheat Kings last week.

The Broncos got an early lead on the Pats, scoring once in the first period after receiving three power play opportunities.

The Pats again found themselves in the penalty box early in the second period, with Owen Williams and Braydon Buziak both taking penalties in a nine-second span.

The Broncos were able to score twice on the power play and push the lead to 3-0.

The Pats would eventually find life in the second, with Matt Bradley able to score a pair of goals in the period.

With the score 4-2 in the third, the Pats managed to get within one goal late, when Bryce Platt shot a puck that found its way to the back of the net.

The Pats pulled their goalie late in the game, but Swift Current scored on the open net, putting the game out of reach.

The Pats took seven penalties in total during the game and head coach John Paddock said that’s a major reason they lost.

“Cost us the game,” Paddock said.

Despite making the game close in the second and third periods, Paddock wasn’t happy with how his team played.

“I wasn’t very happy with a lot of the game and different parts, I didn’t think we had very many good players and it was a lot of little things but little things add up to big things.”

Paddock said there are players who need to do their jobs better on the team.

“It doesn’t really matter that we’re missing a little bit of skill, there needs to be things done better.”

Bradley, who now has five goals in three games, said that the players have to do more.

“We have to come out and play better and play smarter and take less stupid penalties,” Bradley said.

Bradley was named one of the Pats assistant captains heading into the season and said he tries to keep things positive on the bench when the team gets down early.

“Just try and always talk and always be positive, if the young guys are down or had a bad shift, tell them to keep going,” he said.

The Pats lineup could be getting a boost soon, with Jake Leschyshyn being sent back to the team from the Vegas Golden Knights.

Leschyshyn has been rehabbing a knee injury he suffered in January.

“When he’s ready to play, he’s one of our top players, he’s smart, he works, he competes,” Paddock said of Leschyshyn. “He’s one of the better players in the league.”

Paddock said he hasn’t heard anything about when the team could get either Josh Mahura or Sam Steel back. Both are currently in Anaheim at Ducks training camp.

The Pats will be in action in Moose Jaw on Friday.