Pats put in strong effort but fall 3-2 to Moose Jaw

It was perhaps one of the Pats best games of the year so far, but it still ended with another loss.

Regina outshot their opponents 33-25 and led for a good portion of the game, but it wasn’t enough to get past their Highway 1 rivals.

“When we play as good as we did tonight coming out with a loss is a bit discouraging,” said head coach Dave Struch.

“You look back at, even looking at our three wins this was probably a better game than any one of those three wins that we’ve had.”

It was all started by a goal from Austin Pratt in the first period. He was set up by captain Jake Lescyhshyn to give the Pats the lead 15 minutes into the opening frame.

Moose Jaw benefited from a bad bounce and was able to get a shorthanded opportunity on the Pats powerplay. Nick Bowman set up Tate Popple expertly in front of the net and he beat goaltender Max Paddock to tie things up at one.

But the Pats responded near the end of the period when Leschyshyn squeaked one inside the pipes and past Adam Evanoff to take a 2-1 lead into the final period.

A high-sticking penalty to Parker Gavlas gave the Warriors the opportunity to tie things up at four minutes into the frame, and Tristin Langan gave the Warriors the lead at 12:39.

Despite a late game penalty by Moose Jaw, the Pats were unable to break through Evanoff and tie things up leading to a 3-2 loss.

Struch said it would be easy for the team to dwell on the standings – the Pats are 3-8 without a win at home – but they try not to do that, especially after a game that had so many positives.

“It is tough to look at where we’re at the standings and the amount of wins we got and the amount of losses but as a group, if you look at everything we do well on a daily basis to get better … we can only look to the future,” he said, adding he hopes the team can take the momentum into their next game Sunday afternoon.

“If we keep playing the way we’re playing tonight the more success we’re going to have. Obviously, we’d like it to show with a W on the board but if you look at what we’re going to have for video (Sunday) there’s a lot of good things to see.”

The Pats will get their next shot at win number four – and their first win at home – when they square off against the Everett Silvertips on Sunday.

Puck drop is 4 p.m.