A late game slap shot from Connor Hobbs gave the Regina Pats their sixth straight win after a back and forth game with the Moose Jaw Warriors.
Both teams had chances early in the first period, but it wasn’t until Austin Wagner broke free on a breakaway midway through the period and scored the first goal, giving the Pats the lead.
Tanner Jeannot would tie it up in the second period when he was able to slip a puck by Pats goaltender Tyler Brown, which was assisted by Jett Woo and Brett Howden.
Just over four minutes later, Robbie Holmes scored his second goal of the season, assisted by Wagner, and was able to give the Pats the lead once again.
Moose Jaw kept the pressure on the Pats and Luka Barzan passed it to Howden who scored his 26th goal of the season and tied the game before the second period ended.
In the third period, the Pats took the lead when Nick Henry scored a goal , assisted by Sam Steel and Holmes. With the assist, Holmes recorded his first multi-point game in his WHL career.
Jeannot would score his second goal of the game as a penalty to the Pats expired and tied the game at three.
However, Regina would land the final blow late in the game.
With around 30 seconds left in the game, Steel won the draw in Moose Jaw’s end and Josh Mahura fed the puck to Hobbs who fired it to the back of the net to give the Pats the win.
“Just pure excitement, felt good,” Hobbs said, who leads all WHL defencemen with 21 goals and 56 points. “Last few games, personally I’ve been a little bit snake-bitten scoring wise and it just felt great… Josh made a great pass to me at the point and it found its way in.”
With the win, the Pats sit atop the WHL standings with 77 points.
Regina extended their lead in the East Division over the Warriors to 10 points with three games in hand.
Regina will visit Saskatoon on Friday to take on the Blades before returning to the Brandt Centre on Saturday where they will meet the Edmonton Oil Kings.
Three stars
- Austin Wagner (1 G, 1 A, +2)
- Tanner Jeannot (2 G, +2)
- Robbie Holmes (1 G, 1 A, +2)