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Montreal Canadiens: Cale Fleury’s attempts turned aside in Memorial Cup loss

By Omar L

EDMONTON, AB - OCTOBER 29: Bryan Lockner #18, Matt Bradley #77, Egor Zamula #2 and Emil Oksanen #20 of the Regina Pats celebrate a goal against the Edmonton Oil Kings at Rogers Place on October 29, 2017 in Edmonton, Canada. (Photo by Codie McLachlan/Getty Images)
EDMONTON, AB - OCTOBER 29: Bryan Lockner #18, Matt Bradley #77, Egor Zamula #2 and Emil Oksanen #20 of the Regina Pats celebrate a goal against the Edmonton Oil Kings at Rogers Place on October 29, 2017 in Edmonton, Canada. (Photo by Codie McLachlan/Getty Images) /
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The Regina Pats lost their first game of the 2018 Memorial Cup to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan Sunday night that saw Montreal Canadiens generate a lot of chances.

It seems like the Acadie-Bathurst Titan came to play at the 2018 Memorial Cup. They now sit as the only undefeated team in the tournament after beating the Swift Current Broncos and most recently, the Regina Pats. Montreal Canadiens prospect Cale Fleury had a single assist in the Pats loss that almost saw them strike a comeback.

Cameron Hebig put Regina on the board first, but Acadie-Bathurst looked to take the game from under them. Five unanswered goals put the Titans up 5-1 halfway through the second period. Fleury struggled a bit on the first goal against as missing the chance to hold the line led to a scoring chance against which they converted on.

It was tough not to think that the game was over, but the Pats continued to fight. However, an 7-2 deficit to start the third was far from ideal.

The Pats responded well to the goaltender chance scoring 4 goals over the span of 14 minutes. Fleury had the primary assist on the goal. The defenceman quickly pinched in recovering for Matt Bradley along the boards after he lost the puck thanks to a Titan check. He then dished the puck to Bradley with the wind-up ready for a point one-timer, but his teammate decided to finish the job himself.

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That goal brought the Pats within one, but they couldn’t manage to get the tying goal past the Titan goaltender.

Fleury has 11 shots over the course of those two games and only a single assist to show for it. Additionally, despite the early blunder on the blue line, it’s a positive to see the Habs prospect come out of the game a +2 considering the number of goals scored against Regina.

The 2017 third-round pick has generated a lot of offence from the point this season dishing pucks out to teammates or scoring on his own. The points will come for Fleury eventually, and it’s more important for him to improve his defensive game, especially if moving on to the AHL is an option next season.

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The Pats don’t play another game until Wednesday. That will be their chance to get revenge on the Swift Current Broncos who eliminated them from the first-round of the WHL Playoffs. Tempers flared at different points of that series, so there’s no telling how that game will go. For Regina to get back on track at the Memorial Cup, it’ll have to end in a victory.

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