Twice the Wheat Kings fell down by multiple goals against the Regina Pats before the second period was even halfway over. They erased both deficits, and by the time the game was over they were the ones with a multi-goal lead.
Jordan Gavin finished with a hat trick and two assists, and Gio Pantelas, Caleb Hadland, Brady Turko, Nicholas Johnson, and Max Lavoie all scored as the Wheat Kings beat the Pats 8-5. Jayden Kraus came in in relief and received credit for the win.
“Getting that first one, I think Pantelas got it, it gave us a little bit of life,” said Wheat Kings head coach and GM Marty Murray. “We were able to tie it up at the end of one and that was huge. Unfortunately the first part of the second didn’t work out so well, but credit to our guys, we kept pushing and we got back in the game.”
The Pats went on an offensive roll in the first half of the first period, starting with a one-timer from the right point by Aiden Wagner. His shot found its way through traffic and made it 1-0.
In the back half of their first power play, Regina extended their lead when Caden Brown tipped a point shot by Ephram McNutt to make it 2-0. Then, following a turnover behind the Wheat Kings’ net, Zachary Lansard was left with an open net to extend the lead again.
Before the period was out, however, the Wheat Kings had erased the lead. Pantelas carried the puck in himself and while his shot was steered wide, it bounced back out front off the back glass, and Pantelas drove the net and buried his second of the season from close range.
It took the Wheat Kings just 40 seconds to get another. Jaxon Jacobson dangled his way from the left wing to the slot, and while his backhand was stopped, Hadland went after the rebound and cashed it in.
A power rush by Joby Baumuller provided the equalizer with just under three minutes left in the first. He drove down the right wing, bulled his way to the net, and left a rebound for Gavin, who deposited the tying goal.
Once again, however, the opening act of the period favoured Regina. With four-on-four play in effect, Keets Fawcett drove the net and the rebound sat down for Lansard again for his second of the game. Then, a bounce off a Wheat King glove sent Ellis Mieyette in on a shorthanded breakaway, on which he made no mistake.
The Wheat Kings made good on a breakaway of their own before the period was out. Gavin made a spinning pass to send Turko into the clear, and while Turko appeared to be stopped on his forehand move, the puck trickled over the goal line and brought the home side back within one.
Early in the third, the Wheat Kings tied the game thanks to hard work by Johnson. Forcing a turnover behind the Pats’ net, Johnson poked the puck loose and drove to his backhand, outwaiting Marek Schlenker to square the score again.
When the Wheat Kings went back to the power play, Gavin went back to work. He took a cross-seam feed from Turko and, from the top of the left circle, rifled a shot bar-down for the first Wheat Kings’ lead of the game.
Despite two penalty kills after that, the Wheat Kings kept the Pats off the scoresheet from there. And when Regina pulled the goaltender, Gavin completed the hat trick. Baumuller had a clean look at the net but waited for Gavin for to catch up to him and gave him the hat trick goal.
The scoring wasn’t done their either. With a faceoff in the Pats’ zone, the Wheat Kings won the puck free, and Luke Mistelbacher put it right in Lavoie’s wheelhouse for a perfect one-timer for the eighth goal of the game for the Wheat Kings.
The win is the fourth straight for the Wheat Kings, and they get a chance to go for five immediately. They welcome the Calgary Hitmen, who have won five straight themselves, at 4:00 Central Time.
