‘You’ve got to win four:’ Pats remain locked in with 2-0 series lead

The Regina Pats enjoyed their weekend visit to Saskatoon.

Regina opened up a 2-0 lead in its first-round WHL playoff series with the Saskatoon Blades with a 6-1 win on Friday and a 6-5 overtime decision on Sunday.

“It’s a big start, obviously,” said Pats captain Connor Bedard, who had eight points (five goals, three assists) in the Pats’ first two playoff games to snag WHL player-of-the-week honours.

“We’re happy about getting those two wins, but you’ve got to win four to win a series so we can’t be too happy about it. We have to take what we did well but learn what we can do better and try to get these next two.”

Game 3 is to be played Tuesday in Regina, with the fourth game set for Wednesday at the Brandt Centre. Game time both nights is set for 7 p.m.

While scoring hasn’t been an issue for the Pats, they have given up a lot of shots. Goaltender Drew Sim faced 47 shots in the second game.

“I’ve had that a few times this year. I know what to expect when it comes to games like that,” Sim said. “Game 2 wasn’t as pretty as Game 1 but they don’t ask how (you win) this time of the year.”

While the Pats gave up a ton of shots, Bedard said it didn’t feel like they gave up that many chances.

“Sim has been unreal for us and in those two games, he was so good. We’ve got to try to make his job a little easier and limit the shots,” Bedard said.

While there isn’t a ton of playoff experience on the Pats’ roster, head coach John Paddock isn’t a stranger to the post-season.

He made the playoffs 14 straight years as a head coach in the American Hockey League and was the Pats’ bench boss for playoff runs from 2014 to 2018.

“We’re thrilled that’s where (the current series) is at but it’s far from over. You just have to look at sports, all sports and different situations that happen during the season,” Paddock said. “Obviously we are happy with where we are at.”

Paddock will be hoping his team can pull off a different result than the previous time the Pats played in a game this late in the season. The last time the Pats played post-season hockey was in the 2018 Memorial Cup, with the host Pats losing in the final 4-1 to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan.

“It could be louder (on Tuesday) than the last game we played in here because a Quebec team didn’t let us have the puck so they didn’t have anything to cheer about,” Paddock said. “We’d better have the puck more than we did in that game or we will be in trouble.”

Sim is excited to see the what the Brandt Centre will be like in playoff mode.

“I hope it is going to be bumping. Saskatoon set the bar pretty high so we need an answer from the old Orange Top,” Sim said. “I’m hoping they give us some energy.”