After falling behind 2-0 early in the game, the Warriors would proceed to tie the contest no less than five times before Regina went on to a 7-6 overtime victory at the Brandt Centre.
And the Pats had Connor Bedard to thank for it.
Fresh from his four-goal showing against Austria at the World Junior Hockey Championship, 16-year-old standout scored four times, including the game-winner with 22 seconds remaining in OT.
The Warriors fell to 16-14-3-1 with the loss, with the single point moving them into a tie with Saskatoon for fourth place in the Eastern Conference, one point up on Brandon. Regina is now 14-17-0-0 and a point back of Calgary for the final playoff spot in the Conference.
The Warriors had a golden opportunity to take control of the game early, when only 40 seconds into the proceedings Stanislav Svozil took a five-minute major for a high blindside hit on Riley Niven.
But the Warriors’ season-long short-handed goal woes reared their head once again and in embarrassing fashion -- Logan Nihoff gave Regina a 1-0 lead at the 3:35 mark and only 19 seconds later, Cole Dubinsky went in on a breakaway and also beat Warriors goaltender Carl Tetachuk for the early two goal edge.
Dubinsky then had another breakaway with 45 seconds remaining in the penalty, but Tetachuk made the save.
The Warriors have now allowed 12 shorthanded goals this season while having scored 28 on the power play. No other team in the WHL has allowed more than eight.
Moose Jaw regained their composure after the blown power play, though, and started to carry the play. It paid off with 5:06 remaining in the frame when Matthew Gallant’s wrist shot through traffic from the top of the right face-off circle beat Regina goaltender Matthew Kieper high blocker side.
Warriors defenceman Majid Khaddoura looked to have tied things up two minutes into the second, but the goal was called back due to an offside challenge by the Pats.
There was no question on the actual tying goal -- Jagger Firkus continued with his hot hand as of late with a laser beam of a shot top corner glove side on the power play at 4:58 of the period.
The goal extended Firkus’ point streak to seven games and 10 of his last 11, with goals in six of his last seven and 14 points over that span.
Shortly after the puck drop, the Pats had a pair of stellar scoring chances, but Tetachuk made a couple of outstanding post-to-post saves, including a brilliant stop on Zack Smith to keep things tied 2-2.
The Pats kept coming, though, and narrowly missed a couple of other golden scoring chances before Bedard did what Bedard does. The 16-year-old phenom jumped on a neutral zone turnover, undressing a Warriors defenceman and beating Tetachuk with shot along the ice glove side at 11:30.
That lead didn’t last long as Max Wanner picked up the puck in the right corner and went straight to the net cross-crease, slipping a shot to the far side past Kieper to make it a 3-3 game. The goal came with eight minutes to play in the period.
The marker also brought a milestone for 2021 first-round Prospect Draft pick Marek Howell, who drew an assist for his first Western Hockey League point in his first WHL game.
Bedard regained the lead for Regina less than a minute later, taking a feed from Tanner Howe off a delayed off-side touch-up and finding himself all alone on the right side. Bad news for the Warriors, as his quick shot redirected off a stick and into the Moose Jaw net.
Khaddoura made his next scoring opportunity count with 2:16 to play in the period, getting off a blast from the point that went bar down behind Kieper to once again tie things up, this time at four apiece.
The tie didn’t last long into the third, as Bedard finished off his first hat trick of the season to put the Pats ahead 5-4 only 1:19 into the period.
Sure enough, that lead wouldn’t last long, and it was a Regina native who once again tied things up.
Warriors rookie Tate Schofer went end-to-end down the right side, and his shot from deep in the Regina zone went off Pats back-up Drew Sim and trickled in for Schofer’s first career WHL goal at 5:22 of the period.
The Warriors surrendered their second five-on-three power play of the game with just over nine minutes remaining, giving Regina 1:43 to take the lead. Another penalty with 7:11 to play extended the 5-on-3 advantage, and Drew Englot finally made Moose Jaw pay, as he jumped on a rebound at the side of the net and batted a shot home.
Robert Baco saw to it things wouldn’t end there, though, going in on a two-on-one as the Regina power play expired and beating Sim high glove side to tie the game 6-6 with 5:12 remaining in regulation.
That was enough to send things to overtime, where Bedard scored his fourth goal, beating his man off the point and taking a pass from Logan Nihoff in the slot, beating Tetachuk high glove side for the 7-6 win.
Baco, Khaddura and Gallant all had two-point games for the Warriors, while Atley Calvert and Thomas Tien picked up a pair of helpers each.
Tetachuk faced 50 shots in the Warriors net -- including 21 in the third period alone -- while the Warriors fired 16 at Kieper and nine at Sim.
The Warriors were to return to action on Monday in Winnipeg, but that game has been postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. Next action is Friday, Jan. 7 in Lethbridge against the Hurricanes, with their next home game on Wednesday, Jan. 12 against the Calgary Hitmen.
