Daily Herald Staff
The Regina Pats rode timely scoring and a stellar performance from starting goaltender Marek Schlenker on route to a 5-4 win over the Prince Albert Raiders on Wednesday.
Schlenker stopped 34 of 38 shots he faced, including 11 in a hectic first period, where Prince Albert outshot Regina 12-4, but headed to the dressing room tied at one.
At the other end of the ice, Dimitri Fortin stopped 18 shots, including a toe save on a Caden Brown breakaway in the first period.
Oli Chenier opened the scoring with less than six minutes to play in the first period on a beautiful between-the-legs wrist shot from the slot.
The Pats evened the score with less than a minute to play in the first when Zachary Lansard skated into the slot and wired a wrist shot over Fortin’s glove.
Prince Albert re-took the lead in the second thanks to defenceman Daxon Rudolph, who stickhandled between two Pats defenders and lifted back-hand over Schlenker’s blocker. However, the Pats roared back with two goals in less than two minutes to take the lead.
Lansard got his second of the night on another wrist shot from the slot with 12:53 gone in the period. Brown then got his team-leading 19th goal of the season when he picked up a loose puck in the slot during a goalmouth scramble and fired it top shelf.
Hometown product Connor Howe tied the game early in the third when he snuck into the slot, took a pass from Riley Boychuk, and fired it top corner.
However, the Pats retook the lead exactly eight minutes later when Emphram McNutt jumped into the rush and fired a wrist shot past Fortin’s glove to make it 4-3. Ellis Mieyette made it 5-3 when he walked around a Raiders defenceman, stickhandled around Fortin’s poke-check attempt, and slid the puck into the goal.
The Raiders made it close in the final minutes when captain Justice Christensen scored short-handed with 1:12 to play. Newly acquired Brandon Gorzynski drew the only assist on the play.
That made the score 5-4, but that was as close as the Raiders would get. The loss drops the Raiders into second place in the WHL’s Eastern Conference after the Medicine Hat Tigers defeated the Brandon Wheat Kings 7-3. The Tigers are one point up on the Raiders, but Prince Albert has two games in hand.
The Raiders are back on the ice Friday night when they welcome the 2026 Memorial Cup host Kelowna Rockets. Puck drop is 7 p.m.
