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They say there’s such a thing as home ice advantage, but Pats captain Adam Brooks gets a kick out of playing away games.
“It’s fun to go into an away building and have their fans boo you,” he admitted to reporters Monday before boarding the bus to Alberta.
The Pats are in the midst of the Eastern Conference final against the Lethbridge Hurricanes. After losing game one, then winning game two at home, games three and four will be played in Lethbridge Tuesday and Wednesday night.
“Our goal is to go in there and try to win both games. Obviously, I think that’s the goal of any team that’s going on the road in the playoffs,” Brooks said.
It was Brooks’ heroics in overtime on Saturday night that evened up the series against the Hurricanes. After dominating most of game two, the Hurricanes stormed back to tie things up in the third period and force overtime.
Part of the Hurricanes success is tied to their goaltender Stuart Skinner. The 18-year-old is draft eligible this year and ranked fifth among goalies. He’s put together strong back-to-back performances for his team and denied many of the Pats’ scoring chances.
“Obviously it’d be nice to score more on Skinner,” head coach John Paddock said. “(On the) powerplay we had some really good opportunities and looks, he made some really good saves.”
“We just got to continue to get second, third opportunities on him,” added Brooks. “He’s a good goalie, he’s going to stop the first one most of the time so you just got to make sure you get traffic on a goalie like that.”
On the other side of the rink, however, is Pats goaltender Tyler Brown, who has been absolutely lights out for his team.
This is the second week in a row that Brown has been named the WHL goaltender of the week. He currently boasts the lowest goals against average in the league at 1.88 and has the highest save percentage for goalies still left in the playoffs.
“Both teams are obviously playing very well and have played well since the trade deadline and down the stretch,” said Brooks. “It’s going to come down to scoring chances and who capitalizes on them.”
Puck drop in Lethbridge is at 7 p.m.
