Medicine Hat Tigers goaltender Michael Bullion makes a toe save on Lethbridge Hurricanes winger Egor Zudilov during the first period of Saturday's Western Hockey League game at the Canalta Centre. -- NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com @MHNMcCracken
The Medicine Hat Tigers bounced back in a big way in Saturday’s home opener at the Canalta Centre.
After allowing 42 shots on goal in Friday’s season-opening loss to the Lethbridge Hurricanes, the Tabbies dug in their heels defensively and held the ’Canes to just 22 chances while peppering opposing netminder Stuart Skinner with 43 to close out the home-and-home series with a 4-0 victory.
“We played really well as a group of five. We tracked back hard and didn’t give them a whole bunch of outnumbered rushes which is important,” said Tigers head coach and general manager Shaun Clouston, adding the return of veteran defenceman David Quenneville from New York Islanders camp made a big impact. “I thought he was the difference tonight. Everything got slotted differently and that took a lot of pressure off the rest of the group.”
Michael Bullion turned aside every shot he faced to lock up his first win since last year’s Eastern Conference semifinals and the fourth shutout of his WHL career, lifting the Tigers to 1-1-0-0 on the season.
“Goaltending is the most important position on the team and he had a great night,” said Clouston, adding the group of five in front of Bullion were on their game defensively as well. “We blocked probably 15 to 17 shots today, which meant the guys were really involved.”
Medicine Hat got the energized start they were seeking after coming up short in their 5-2 setback the night before. While Skinner turned aside all 13 shots in the opening frame to preserve a scoreless stalemate at the break, the Tigers kept chipping away and eventually broke through in the second.
Tigers forward Ryan Chyzowski broke open the tie game early in the middle frame after the team successfully killed off a delay of game infraction that carried over from the first. The Kamloops product followed up on a chance from Tyler Preziuso and jammed a loose puck into the net for his first of the year — setting a three-goal period in motion.
“I think we were just slow off the hop. They definitely had a lot of momentum going from the beginning,” said Hurricanes captain Giorgio Estephan, adding Skinner kept them in the contest. “He was making saves we shouldn’t have made him make. It was one of those games where he was bailing us out left, right and centre.”
Josh Williams doubled up on the lead a few minutes later with his first goal as a full-time member of the Tigers and the second of his budding career. The 2016 fifth overall bantam draft pick was initially stopped on a breakaway after a perfect stretch pass from Quenneville, but Mark Rassell followed up with a second chance then Williams deposited the ensuing rebound to give the Tabbies their first two-goal lead of the season.
But they didn’t stop there, as Rassell continued the offensive onslaught with a power play goal midway through the period. The newly appointed Tigers captain slapped a puck out of mid-air, and watched it bounce off a Hurricanes defender and past Skinner to leave Lethbridge reeling through 40 minutes.
“You’ve got to be good to be lucky,” said Rassell. “I’ll take them any way I can get them.”
The Tabbies carried the strong defensive effort into the final frame by limiting traffic in front of Bullion and preventing the Hurricanes from generating many quality chances, then Max Gerlach put the game away with an empty netter to secure his team’s first win of the year.
The Tigers head to Saskatoon Friday to face the Blades before moving on to take on the Raiders Saturday in Prince Albert.
