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Photo by Darwin Knelsen for scbroncos.com

The Regina Pats stifled the Swift Current Broncos in the third period and took a 2-0 lead of their best of seven first round playoff series with 3-2 victory on Saturday.

Adam Brooks scored 6:34 into the period to put Regina up 3-2 and they kept the Broncos pinned in their own zone for much of the rest of the game.

"We just never got it done," said Broncos assistant coach Jamie Heward. "That is extremely, extremely disappointing. You can't put a positive spin on it if we're not going to bear down in certain situations and get things done. This isn't game 33 of a 72 game series this is it."

"If you can't bear down and win battles in the playoffs as an older group you have to take a look in the mirror and see if this is something you want to do going forward."

It was the second straight game where the Pats were able to smother Swift Current's attack late with a one-goal lead.

The Broncos opened the scoring 5:00 into the first period on a terrific play from Gawdin to Gordon to Lernout for a 1-0 lead. Regina quickly erased the deficit a few minutes later right after their power play expired when Taylor Cooper walked out from behind their net uncontested and ripped a shot top corner.

A few minutes later the Pats struck again just as their power play expired when Jesse Gabrielle deflected a Pavel Padakin shot by Landon Bow for a 2-1 Regina lead.

Swift Current got a boost in the second period from their fourth line as Linden Penner made a power forward move from behind the net to jam a puck on Daniel Wapple that rookie Tyler Steenbergen was able to bang in. The Broncos then came very close to another lead a few minutes later when Brett Lernout's point shot deflected and rang off the post during one of only two Swift Current power plays.

The Broncos weren't able to get their man advantage on the ice much this weekend as they went 0 for 1 on Friday and 0 for 2 on Saturday.

Brooks then pulled Regina ahead in the third and the Pats gave up very little in the remainder of the third.

"Our guys have to address it internally," Heward said. "They have to dig deeper than they did in that third period today."

Swift Current did have a power play in the final minute of the game and Wapple made the biggest of his 29 saves on a Lernout one-timer with lots of traffic to preserve the win.

The Broncos will need more from their veteran offensive leaders as the series shifts to Swift Current on Tuesday night. None of Colby Cave, Coda Gordon, Carter Rigby or Jake DeBrusk have scored yet in the series.

"Moving forward we need our guys to win their match-up," Heward said. "They've got a good first line as well it's a battle every single night. If something happens the first game you're not on your 'A' game and they win that battle, the second night you've got to win that match-up and be better."

Swift Current does have reason for optimism heading back home for games 3 and 4 as they were one of the better home teams in the Eastern Conference. They find themselves in a similar situation now to what they were in last season against Medicine Hat. The Broncos lost two close games in Medicine Hat last spring and then evened the series with a couple of tightly contested victories at the Credit Union iPlex.

"We have to do the same thing at home," Heward said. "Get those two games and now she's a series. It's still a long series. We just have to find a way to play well on Tuesday. We've got guys that can do it. We're a good hockey team."

"There's lots of things you can do at home. Now it's really, really important to win your match-ups because we have the advantage."

They will look to repeat that home success starting on Tuesday night. You can hear our broadcast live on The Eagle 94.1 FM starting with our pre-game show at 6:30pm.