Regina's goalie stole Wednesday's game for the Pats, with 38 saves in a 5-3 win over the Vancouver Giants at Langley Events Centre.
G-Men head coach Manny Viveiros was the first to applaud Kelton Pyne for his outstanding performance, which earned the Prairie netminder the player of the game distinction after taking 13 shots in the first period, 11 in the second, and 17 in the final.
"Credit to their goaltender: he stole that game for them tonight," Viveiros said.
Tyler Thorpe, Tyus Sparks, and Ty Halaburda provided the goals for the Giants, while five different Pats scored: Zach Moore, Jace Egland, Julien Maze, Zackary Shantz, and Caden Brown.
Regina got out to a 2-0 lead after one period thanks to a power play goal from Moore 12:39 into the game and then a goal from Egland 鈥� the first in his WHL career 鈥� with only 1:27 left in the opening frame.
Maze extended the visitors' lead to 3-0 with a breakaway goal 6:23 into period number two to make it 3-0 Pats.
Before the end of the second, the Giants got life when Thorpe sniped from the slot on the power play, off a pass from the corner from Adam Titlbach.
Two 16-year-olds connected early in the third to get the Giants to within a goal, as Ryan Lin held the puck in the offensive zone at the right point and found Sparks alone in the slot, who roofed his fourth of the season to cut Regina's lead to 3-2.
A breakaway goal from Shantz five minutes later restored the Pats two-goal lead, as his shot was initially stopped, but eventually trickled over the line with 11:56 left in the third period.
The Giants pulled the goaltender early with them facing a two-goal deficit, and Halaburda scored from the right circle with 55 seconds remaining to make it 4-3.
Regina hit the empty net with eight seconds left to make the final score 5-3.
The loss drops Vancouver's record to 11-10-4 this season, while the Pats improve to 7-16-2-2. The Giants out-shot Regina 41-26 in the game.
"I have no issues with our effort tonight. I thought our guys worked. They competed. We certainly didn't take [them] lightly. We knew that 鈥� we talked about it. The guys were ready. We had some really good looks. We just didn't execute鈥� we just didn't capitalize on them. Our effort: our kids were pressing and pressing, maybe pressing a little bit too hard at times, but we got behind and tried to fight back and get ourselves back in the game," Viveiros said.
"When we got our momentum, then we gave up a goal. Then [we] kind of lost our momentum, had to work hard to get it back again. And then we got a goal, then we gave up another one. Credit to them 鈥� they scored timely goals and we just couldn't dig ourselves out of that hole," the coach commented.
While Pats' goaltender Pyne was crowned the top player of the night, Giants forward Thorpe was given second star of the game, after recording one goal and six shots on goal during Wednesday's game on home ice. Third star went to Regina's Julien Maze with one goal, two assists, and three shots on goal.
Next up for the G-Men, they're on a U.S. road trip this weekend, with three games in three days. It starts with a game against the Tri-City Americans in Kennewick, Wash., on Friday, then back-to-back games against the Winterhawks in Portland, Ore. on Saturday and Sunday.
They're in Victoria after that, to take on the Royals on Friday, Dec. 13, before coming back home for the annual teddy bear toss game against Victoria the next night, on Saturday, Dec. 14.