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Brandon Wheat Kings push Regina Pats’ back up against the wall: WHL Eastern Conference playoff roundup

The Brandon Wheat Kings walked into the Regina Pats’ barn as if they owned the place and walked out with a 2-0 series lead.

It’s easy to throw Dawson MacAuley under the bus for the Queen City Kids’ poor play. He undoubtedly hasn’t lived up to expectations with 12 pucks getting by him in the first two games. But the Pats’ defensive woes go far beyond their 19-year-old goaltender. Regina’s back end has struggled to contain the Wheat Kings’ scorers and they’ve lost more battles along the wall than they’ve won.

With MacAuley clearly fragile between the pipes, the Wheat Kings’ game plan to get as many pucks on net as they can clearly worked. They took the first contest 6-3 and the second one 8-4. New York Islanders first-rounder Ryan Pulock and regular-season leading scorer Jayce Hawryluk led the way on the score board with four points apiece.

The Wheat Kings’ Jordan Papirny has done his job by being the best goalie on the ice. His .892 save percentage and 3.50 average isn’t impressive, but it was good enough for two wins.

Brandon is clearly in the driver’s seat for Game 3. They can afford to take risks while the Pats have their back up against the wall. The game plan should stay the same for the Wheat Kings in peppering the net. And a split should be good enough to seal the Wheat Kings’ ticket to the second round.

Regina has to get back to their regular-season form. They need better all-around efforts from every position, but especially on the defensive side of the puck. It seems Daniel Wapple will go in net for the Pats if he’s ready to return from his ankle injury, but if he’s not ready, MacAuley needs to step up his game a couple of notches. Albeit it’s a level lower, the Prince Albert native showed last year with the SJHL’s Yorkton Terriers that he can stand tall in net when it’s all on the line as he led them to a championship.

Hitmen 2, Ice 1

A Greg Chase slap shot in overtime gave the Calgary Hitmen a 7-6 win and a 2-1 series lead on the Kootenay Ice after a wild 65 minutes of action.

In the back-and-forth Game 3 affair, there was no shortage of players on the Hitmen that found their scoring touch as five players (Landon Welykholowa, Mike Winther, Adam Tambellini, Pavel Padakin and Radel Fazleev) scored two points or better.

Kootenay’s top offensive duo, Sam Reinhart (1G-4A) and Jaedon Descheneau (1G-5A), shone and their power play managed to go five for six on the power play. But with the help of hindsight vision, it’s safe to say head coach Ryan Mcgill’s decision to put Mackenzie Skapski back in net in the third period following pulling him in the second wasn’t a smart move. The New York Rangers prospect let in two goals in the final frame and Chase’s overtime slap shot was a stoppable puck.

Even though Chris Driedger, who's an Ottawa Senators prospect, posted a 35-save shutout in the Hitmen’s 5-0 victory in Game 2, neither team’s starting goaltender has appealing stats through three matches. Driedger has posted a .890 save percentage and a 3.75 average while Skapski has maintained a .861 save percentage and a 4.28 average. This is somewhat surprising because of both goalie's quality track records, but not really at the same time because of the elite offensive talent in this series.

Since the Ice, who won Game 1 5-2, can’t afford to back to Calgary down 3-1, they have to come up with a win in Game 4. The pressure is ultimately on Skapski for that to happen.

Tigers 2, Broncos 0

The Medicine Hat Tigers haven’t allowed a puck find the back of their net within the first 40 minutes of their first two games against the Swift Current Broncos. This has paved the way to a 2-1 win in Game 1 and a 4-2 victory in Game 2.

Phoenix Coyotes prospect Marek Langhamer has stood tall in the Tigers’ net in his first two full major junior playoff games by stopping 59 of 62 shots. He’s so far edged the play of Broncos puck-stopper Eetu Laurikainen, who has also played well by turning aside 61 of 66 pucks.

Trevor Cox, Mike Koules and St. Louis Blues defensive prospect Tommy Vannelli lead the Tigers in points with three apiece, but Chad Butcher has been the story of their offense. The 18-year-old winger has notched two goals despite only mustering six throughout 63 regular-season games.

The Broncos haven’t lost the series yet, but it’s crucial that they even up the series at home with a pair of wins. They’ll need New Jersey Devils prospect Graham Black and team captain Colby Cave to step up after they were left off the score sheet in the first two contests.

Oil Kings 2, Raiders 0

Fortunately for the league, it didn’t take a shootout to decide Game 1. But unfortunately for the Prince Albert Raiders, they dropped the first contest 5-3 and fell 3-1 the following night to the Edmonton Oil Kings.

Past their big guns, the Oil Kings saw some second and third-line players step up against the Raiders. Blueliner Dysin Mayo, 17, leads his team in points with two goals and two assists. Meanwhile, 18-year-old Brett Pollock and overage Riley Kieser tied Ottawa Senators first-rounder Curtis Lazar with three points.

Even though the Raiders rode 16-year-old goalie Nick McBride in March, it wasn’t surprising to see them turn back to Cole Cheveldave shortly into Game 1. The 20-year-old Calgary native, after all, guarded the Kamloops Blazers’ blue paint last year in their road to the Western Conference final. Cheveldave gave the Raiders a chance to win by turning away 61 of 65 pucks throughout the two matches.

Game 3 is do or die for the Raiders. They have to win their first home game to have any shot of opening the door to a possible upset.

Kelly Friesen is a Buzzing the Net columnist for Yahoo! Sports. Follow him on Twitter @KellyFriesen