With nothing to play for and their first-round playoff series with the Saskatoon Blades less than a week away, the Moose Jaw Warriors went with a patchwork line-up in their Western Hockey League regular-season finale against the Regina Pats on Sunday afternoon.
Thing is, one player on the ice DID have something to play for, and because of that, the Pats would go on to a 7-4 victory at the Brandt Centre in Regina.
Connor Bedard scored twice in the third period and added an assist on the game-winning marker as the Pats broke a 4-4 tie with three goals in the final 13 minutes of the game.
Bedard’s goal with 13:50 remaining in the third was his 50th of the season and made him the highest-scoring 16-year-old in WHL history, and his final goal with 23 seconds remaining gave him five points on the night and 100 for the campaign.
The Warriors, meanwhile, had players like Brayden Yager, Jagger Firkus and Atley Calvert all sitting out with an eye to fielding as healthy a line-up as possible for their playoff opener on Friday night.
Moose Jaw finished the regular season with a 37-24-4-3 record and had locked down fourth place with their point in Lethbridge on Friday night; Regina improved to 27-36-3-2 and will miss the playoffs by two points.
Cole Dubinsky opened scoring for Regina at the six-minute mark of the first period, but the Warriors tied things up 1:48 later and it was a familiar look for anyone who watched their game against Lethbridge 48 hours earlier.
Cole Jordan got a shot off from the point, and Riley Niven was in the right place at the right time for the tip, with the puck dipping five-hole on Kelton Pyne to tie the game 1-1. The goal came on the Warriors’ first shot of the game.
Regina re-took the lead with 8:12 to play in the first, capping off a string of chances in the Warriors zone when Jakob Brook got off a backhand feed from behind the net that found Zane Rowan alone at the side of the crease. Rowan went top shelf, and the Pats again had a one-goal edge.
Once again, the Warriors were able to respond, this time with a 6-on-5 delayed penalty that saw Eric Alarie pick the puck out of a goalmouth scramble with five minutes remaining in the opening frame.
Conner Bedard figured into the Pats’ third goal, forcing a turnover at the right face-off dot and getting the puck over to Dubinsky in the slot, and the Regina veteran would give his team the lead heading into the first intermission with 25 seconds left in the period.
There the score remained until 3:51 remaining in the second frame, and it was another long-range shot from the point that found the back of the net. Denton Mateychuk did the honours on the Warriors’ first power play of the game, with his wrist shot from the point finding its way through traffic and home.
Just over a minute later, it was the Pats’ turn to respond quickly, this time when Logan Nijhoff took a feed from the boards into the slot from Bedard and beat Jackson Unger with a perfect shot top corner blocker side.
The Warriors took advantage of a breakdown on a Regina power play to score the tying goal with 25 seconds remaining, with Mateychuk finishing off a two-on-one break with Robert Baco to send the two teams into the second intermission tied 4-4.
Regina’s fourth power play of the game led to the Pats retaking the lead with 12:39 remaining. Tanner Howe finished off a slick passing play between Bedard and Ryker Evans with a blast from the point to the back of the net.
That set the stage for the final two goals of the game and Bedard’s milestones.
Unger had 27 saves in the loss, Pyne made 20 saves for the victory.
Now for the games that matter.
The first two games of their best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarter-final with Saskatoon take place this Friday and Saturday night at Mosaic Place, with puck drop at 7 p.m. Games 3 and 4 are in Saskatoon on Tuesday, Apr. 26 and Wednesday, Apr. 27. If necessary, Game 5 is back in Moose Jaw on Friday, Apr. 29, followed by Game 6 on Saturday, Apr. 30 in Saskatoon and Game 7 at Mosaic Place on Tuesday, May 3.
