NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN — Medicine Hat Tigers defenceman Cole Clayton protects the puck from Edmonton Oil Kings winger Josh Williams during Game 4 of the Western Hockey League’s Eastern Conference quarter-final on Wednesday at the Canalta Centre.
The seesaw series between the Medicine Hat
Tigers and the Edmonton Oil Kings continued on Wednesday night at the Canalta
Centre.
Despite falling into an early hole, the Oil Kings rallied for three goals in less than two minutes late in the middle frame to steal away the momentum before tying the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarter-final at two games apiece in a 5-1 victory.
Eager to take back the momentum after
falling 5-0 in Game 3, Edmonton pushed the pace into the opening frame and
outchanced Medicine Hat 14-5 — but again they were unable to find a way through
6-foot-7 Tigers netminder Mads Søgaard and settled for a stalemate after 20
minutes.
Medicine Hat appeared to take over the lead
early in the second when Ryan Jevne ripped a shot into the open net after a
scramble pushed Edmonton netminder Todd Scott out of his crease, but the goal
was immediately waved off due to interference — drawing a rising chorus of boos
from the crowd of 2,794.
Edmonton put themselves into penalty
trouble a few minutes later when they were caught with six men on the ice, and
Jevne made them pay for the infraction — this time beating Scott in his crease
for his first goal of the playoffs.
Medicine Hat returned the favour to
Edmonton when Ryan Chyzowski was nabbed for tripping just past the halfway
point of the frame. While Søgaard managed to stymie the Oil Kings on a slew of
chances during the advantage, Quinn Benjafield finally broke through with two
seconds left on the infraction to knot the game up.
Overage centre Andrew Fyten kept Edmonton’s
momentum rolling just over a minute later when he picked up a stretch pass from
Jake Neighbours and beat Søgaard under the glove off the rush, then Vince
Loschiavo tacked on with a deflection from the slot to leave Medicine Hat in a
two-goal deficit with three goals in less than two minutes.
Loschiavo added to Edmonton’s lead midway
through the third period when he beat Søgaard on a one-timer from Benjafield
with Jevne in the box for checking from behind — a hit into the corner on none
other than Loschiavo.
Matthew Robertson pushed the game out of reach on a lucky bounce four minutes later. The Oil Kings blueliner dumped the puck into Medicine Hat’s zone and watched as it deflected off the sideboards, fooling Søgaard — who left his crease to play the puck — and ending up in the open net.
Medicine Hat was held to five shots in all three periods, leaving Scott with a 14-save victory in his first start of the playoffs.
Søgaard stopped 31 in the loss.
The Tigers and Oil Kings head to Rogers Place for Game 5 on Friday at 7 p.m.
