Sunday, Nov. 22, 2009

Ams take it on the chin

By Annie Fowler, Herald staff writer

The Regina Pats have had their road woes this season, winning just twice in 10 games.

That was, until Saturday night.

Jordan Eberle had a goal and three assists, and Garrett Mitchell and Jordan Weal each scored a pair of goals as the Pats embarrassed the Tri-City Americans 7-1 before a crowd of 5,051 at Toyota Center -- the Ams' first home loss of the season in 10 games.

It was the worst loss on home ice for the Americans (18-6-0-0, 36 points) since Kamloops shut out Tri-City 6-0 on Feb. 1, 2003.

"I think we are used to it going our way, and when it didn't, we had a tough time dealing with it. We pouted," said Tri-City coach Jim Hiller. "There are nights when bounces go your way and things are easy. Tonight it didn't and we responded with a spoiled-child attitude. Now we have to respond -- that's the next challenge."

Regina (13-11-3-0, 29 points) scored four goals on the power play, rookie goalie Dawson Guhle finished with 35 saves and Cody Carlson handed out three assists as the Pats won the opener of their five-game swing through the U.S. Division.

"We are judged by our results," said Pats coach Curtis Hunt. "We have played well on the road, we just haven't gotten the results we wanted. We are starting to finish. This is a good win against a first-place team, and that's good for our morale."

The Pats got all their scoring out of the way in the first two periods, and Tri-City avoided the shutout when Sergei Drozd redirected a shot by Jarrett Toll at 10:10 of the third.

"They have a good power play and the atmosphere here is phenomenal -- this is a hostile place -- but we weathered the storm," Hunt said.

Jordan Weal scored just 2:22 into the game for Regina, ending Tri-City goalie Drew Owsley's scoreless stretch of 89:01.

Brett Leffler gave the Pats a 2-0 lead at 9:59, taking a backhanded pass from Eberle at the top of crease and knocking the puck past Owsley.

Mitchell gave Regina 3-0 lead, skating inside on Tri-City defenseman Brett Plouffe and slipping the puck in at the left post on the power play.

The onslaught continued in the second as the Pats scored three power-play goals in the first 9:37 of the period.

Eberle and Weal each scored in the first 8:13 of the period, finding an open net behind Owsley for easy goals. After allowing five goals on 16 shots, Owsley was benched in favor of Brett Martyniuk.

Martyniuk didn't fare much better, allowing a goal by Colten Teubert on the first shot he saw at 9:37.

Tri-City had ample opportunities to score, outshooting the Pats 36-24, but errant passes and missed chances around the net had the Americans' offense in disarray throughout the game. And their vaunted power play, ranked third in the league, was booed by the fans as they finished 0-for-9.