Down to their last life

By Ryan McCracken on March 31, 2018.

rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com @MHNMcCracken

The Medicine Hat Tigers will return to Dauphin in desperation mode.

Ty Lewis potted a goal and added three assists to lead the Brandon Wheat Kings to a 5-2 win over Medicine Hat in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference quarter-finals on Friday at the Canalta Centre —leaving the Tigers teetering on the brink of elimination in a 3-2 deficit with the series shifting back to Manitoba Sunday.

“We just kind of got away from being disciplined. We took a couple penalties and they capitalized on their power play. I think we’ve just got to stay out of the box and take it to them 5-on-5,” said Tigers centre Ryan Chyzowski, who scored twice in the loss. “We’re going to go into Dauphin and we’re going to work as hard as we can, play our game, play to our strengths and get a good win on the road to come back here for Game 7.”

Chyzowski gave the Tigers an early lead when he beat Wheaties netminder Dylan Myskiw to the top corner off the rush midway through the opening period. He struck again to leave the Wheaties in a two-goal deficit early in the second.

Brandon rallied back with four unanswered goals.

“All the guys played great. I thought Linden McCorrister, Connor Gutenberg and Schael Higson played their best game of the series tonight and we needed that,” said Lewis, whose Wheat Kings erased a 2-0 deficit both in the game and the series. “I think it all started back in Dauphin. Getting two important home wins was key for us. Those were huge.”

Lewis started the road back for Brandon midway through the second period when he jammed a puck past Tigers netminder Jordan Hollett on the power play. While Hollett made the initial save on a sharp-angle shot from Stelio Mattheos, Lewis jumped in to finish off the rebound and bring some life to his bench.

Brandon rallied behind the goal and took over the momentum in the latter half of the second — out-chancing Medicine Hat 15-6 in the frame — then Luka Burzan broke through with a late deflection to knot the game up after 40 minutes.

“When we took some penalties there it took the wind out of our sails and the guys got a little bit tired. Right now we don’t have a lot of depth, so there are some guys who are seeing lots of ice time,” said Hat head coach Shaun Clouston, whose Tigers went 2-for-5 on the penalty kill. “Our top guys are seeing lots of minutes, so we have to avoid that many penalties on Sunday.”

The Wheat Kings carried that second-period momentum into the final frame and quickly took over their first lead of the night when Gutenberg finished off a cross-ice feed from Evan Weinger just 19 seconds after the opening draw.

McCorrister doubled up on Brandon’s lead less than two minutes later with David Quenneville in the box for cross checking to turn the tables on Medicine Hat and silence the crowd of 3,509.

“We’ve got to stick to our game plan. We’ve got to skate, we’ve got to outwork them,” said Tigers defenceman Linus Nassen, who returned from injury Friday after missing three games. “I’m really happy to be back, trying to help the team. I’ve been injured half the season and it’s tough.”

See Myskiw, Page A14

The Tabbies pressured for a window back into the contest, testing Myskiw 12 times in the third, but the Wheaties netminder stopped them all and Mattheos put the game away with an empty netter in the final minute.

“We got lots of chances after (losing the lead), we just couldn’t get the puck to cross the goal line — but I was really pleased with the effort after that,” said Clouston. “We’ve got to be patient but we’ve still got to go after it.”

Myskiw stopped 24 to lock up his third consecutive win with starter Logan Thompson nursing an injury. Hollett turned aside 26 shots in the loss.

The Tigers will aim to extend the series in Game 6 on Sunday in Dauphin at 6 p.m.

“It’s a do or die game,” said Chyzowski. “I think we’ve just got to go into it with the mindset that we’re playing for our season. Everybody is going to be selling out, everybody is going to be giving it all and I think that will lead to a good effort.”

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