Blades knock off Pats in OT to tie playoff series

It was déjà vu Wednesday at the Brandt Centre.

For the second straight night, the Saskatoon Blades clawed back from a 3-1 third-period deficit to the Regina Pats to find the winner in overtime, evening a best-of-seven WHL playoff series at two games apiece.

“You kind of lose control of yourself a little bit to be honest (when you score the winner),” said Blades forward Jake Chiasson, whose shot got past Pats netminder Drew Sim in the extra frame. “It’s a sense of relief and excitement and just ultimately, wins are so important this time of the year. Nothing feels better than coming into that locker room after a win.

“This game in a series is pretty big. The difference between 2-2 and 3-1 is substantial, so for us to come away with this one, it’s riding the wave home and for us, it’s just about showing up Friday night to have another good effort.”

For the Pats, it was a chance to take firm control of the series. Regina had built up a 2-0 series lead with a 6-1 win to open the series followed by a 6-5 overtime win in Saskatoon.

Regina captain Connor Bedard said the team can’t let late leads like that slip away.

“They are a good team and they put the puck in the net. You can’t change the past but you can’t blow those leads when you are in the third obviously so we kind of have to learn from there,” said Bedard, who had two goals and an assist in the game.

Bedard now has eight goals and five assists in four playoff games.

The Blades struck first in the game with Egor Sidorov scoring on the power play for Saskatoon. That was Sidorov’s third goal in two games after being held off the scoresheet in the first two games.

It was Regina who would go on a bit of a scoring run, with Bedard scoring with 25 seconds left in the second period.

In the third, Bedard scored his second of the night just 13 seconds into the period. Just 40 seconds later, Tanner Howe scored his first of the postseason.

Blades head coach Brennan Sonne said he had a message to the players after those two quick Pats goals.

“It was more asking them, ‘Is this it? Are we packing it in now?’ and the answer was just unanimously no,” Sonne said. “So I said, ‘OK, let’s get back to work.’

“That’s really all it was — just a refocus and reset on what we needed to do.”

The Blades responded on the ice with a goal from Jayden Wiens and then Charlie Wright scored with 9:59 left in the period. Chiasson would score the game-winner in the extra frame.

Pats head coach John Paddock says the coaches told the team there would be ups and downs throughout the series.

“It’s magnified because it’s a playoff series,” Paddock said. “It’s playoff hockey. There’s not much other way to describe it. It’s a little bit different than the regular season — or a lot different.”

The series will shift back to Saskatoon and SaskTel Centre, where the Pats have won the past two games.

“I think that we can turn that around. Our fans back home, they showed it in those first two games — they are there to support us and grind through this process with our team,” Chiasson said. “We’re excited to get back there and maybe give them a little bit of redemption for how the opening weekend went.”