‘Rock solid’: Stuart Skinner backstops Lethbridge Hurricanes to 1-0 series lead in Eastern Conference Final

The Lethbridge Hurricanes stole home ice from the Regina Pats Friday night with a 3-1 game one victory in the Eastern Conference Final. After a shaky first period, the Hurricanes found their legs and scored once in the second and twice in the third, to secure the win.

“It’s the number one team in the CHL,” Hurricanes Head Coach Brent Kisio said. “We were a little bit intimidated to start. Once we started pushing back and actually started skating, we had a hockey game.”

In front of a sell-out crowd, the Pats came out strong in the first period. Regina fired 14 shots at ‘Canes Goalie Stuart Skinner, and scored early in the period when Austin Wagner converted a breakaway chance.

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The Hurricanes started to gain momentum late in the first, and carried it over into the second period. Midway through the second Egor Babenko backhanded a no-look pass to Giorgio Estephan who blasted a shot past Tyler Brown to tie that game at one. The ‘Canes took their first lead in the third period when Jordy Bellerive banged in a loose puck off a Scramble play in front of Brown. Forward Giorgio Estephan would put the game away in the closing minutes when he scored on an empty net opportunity to make it 3-1 Lethbridge.

“We’ve been resilient quite a bit throughout these playoffs,” Hurricanes Forward Giorgio Estephan said. “Starting out down a goal is something abvously we don’t want to do, but we’ve done it quite often in the playoffs. I think we responded well, and brought a lot of pressure to them and attacked more than sitting back.”

Hurricanes Goaltender Stuart Skinner is having a very good post season, and was outstanding Friday night. The Hurricanes did a good job of keeping the Pats to the outside, but a team that talented is bound to get chances and they did in game one. The Pats blasted 37 pucks in Skinners’ direction, but the 6’4 goaltender stopped all, but one.

“He’s a rock solid guy back there for us,” said Estephan. “You see his demeanor, he’s so calm, and anytime he’s on his game he’s just calm. You have the upmost confidence in him, any winning team needs a goalie like that.”

Share this on X Click to share quote on X: "He's a rock solid guy back there for us," said Estephan. "You see his demeanor, he's so calm, and anytime he's on his game he's just calm. You have the upmost confidence in him, any winning team needs a goalie like that."

Skinner and the Hurricanes now have the chance to take a 2-0 series lead if they can get another road win. The Hurricanes and Pats meet in game two of the best of seven series on Saturday at 7: 00 p.m. in Regina.