Hurricanes topple Pats 8-4

It was another rough night at the Brandt Centre as the Pats took on the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

Far from the team that they were the last two seasons, Regina fell behind 3-1 in the first period and never really got back in it.

The final score was 8-4.

Despite that, head coach Dave Struch found some highlights.

“I thought the powerplay was a positive thing for sure, looking at the first two games, and then the third period we didn’t give up so there’s a lot of positives to take out of it,” he said after the game.

But he also knows there’s a lot of work to do and that will start Saturday after the team gets a chance to sleep on it.

“Individually, lots of mistakes against a real good team and it cost us and there are four, five, six players in that locker room right now that probably feel like they made a lot of those mistakes.”

Goaltender Max Paddock faced 33 shots and allowed seven goals in two periods of work before newcomer Dean McNabb came in in relief. He saw just nine shots in the final period and allowed one goal but the damage had already been done.

The Hurricanes scored three goals in five minutes before the Pats were able to answer with one of their own at 12:26 in the first period.

Robbie Holmes scored his first of the season off a feed from Aaron Hyman and Nick Henry and the Pats ended the period within striking distance with a score of 3-1.

But it unraveled in the second period.

The Hurricanes capitalized on mistakes and misjudgments by the Pats to add four more goals to the score including one on the powerplay and one shorthanded.

The Pats were able to answer with two late in the period from Sergei Alkhimov and Jake Leschyshyn but the period ended with Regina down 7-3.

And while the team found some fight in the third holding Lethbridge to just one goal the team skated off with their third straight loss.

But instead of flushing the game and moving on to the next one on Sunday, Struch will use it as a learning experience for his young team.

“We feel that we have good people in there that really care so they are going to work hard every day to get better. We can only guide them and give them the stuff as far as video and practicing to help them get better. In the end, they really have to take a look and they have to work hard to get out of something like this,” he said.

The Pats will look for their first win of the season on Sunday against Moose Jaw.

Puck drop is at 4 p.m.