Rebels 5 Pats 2
It appears some good, clean Saskatchewan air has gone right to the legs of the Red Deer Rebels.
They won their second straight game Wednesday on the four-game prairie swing, topping the Regina Pats 5-2 at the Brandt Centre.
Rebels goalie Ethan Anders turned aside 34 shots on the night, including 21 in the third during his 50th start of the year. Defenceman Ethan Sakowich had a pair of goals and Brandon Hagel pushed his point total to 91 on the year with a late third-period tally.
Alex Alexyev opened the scoring for Red Deer midway through the first after some great cycle work down low from Zak Smith and company.
Cole Dubinsky notched the equalizer with just over five minutes left in the frame, but Sakowich buried his first of the night in the final 42 seconds of the period.
He notched his second and eventual game-winner just 55 seconds into the second. Brett Davis added his 19th of the season early in the middle period.
Regina managed to get within two goals after a Brady Pouteau goal with 3:15 to play, but Hagel iced the game with an empty-net goal.
With eight games left in the season, Red Deer is in a dogfight for a playoff spot. The win Wednesday pushed them into a tie at 67 points for the top Eastern Conference wild card spot.
Red Deer will play the Eastern Conference leading Prince Albert Raiders on Friday in Prince Albert.
Email sports tips to Byron Hackett
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