The Medicine Hat Tigers ensured there would be no last-minute heroics on Wednesday night at Wayne Fleming Arena.
One night after having their hopes dashed by a last-second goal in Brandon, the Tigers struck for a pair of late tallies to lock up a 4-1 victory over the Winnipeg Ice and take over second place in the Western Hockey League’s Central Division with a 26-12-1-1 record.
The Tigers found themselves in early trouble when defenceman Dylan Plouffe was nabbed for boarding three minutes into the game. Jackson Leppard quickly converted for the East Division-leading Ice, jamming home Michal Teply’s rebound to take over the lead.
Medicine Hat mounted a steady response in the offensive zone, but they were unable to get anything past Ice goaltender Liam Hughes on 10 shots in the frame. At the other end of the ice, Bjorklund settled into his crease and stopped 14 shots – including a handful on a late penalty to Dru Krebs – to keep his Tigers within reach after 20 minutes.
Bjorklund kept the one-goal deficit intact through the second period, opening the door for Lukas Svejkovsky and Jonathan Brinkman to flip the lead in Medicine Hat’s favour before the end of the frame.
Svejkovsky erased the deficit in the dying minutes of the period when he beat Hughes on a snipe from the slot with Ty Ettinger in the box for tripping, then Brinkman then stole away the lead by cutting to the net and finishing off Bryan Lockner’s rebound just 22 seconds later.
Medicine Hat looked to take a lead early in the third when a puck trickled behind Hughes off the rush, but the goal was immediately waved off due to Corson Hopwo playing the puck with his hand. The call was upheld by video review.
Winnipeg pressured for an equalizer, but the Tigers again struck in succession with two quick goals from Svejkovsky and Cole Sillinger late in the third to push the game out of reach.
Svejkovsky netted his second after jumping in on an odd-man rush with James Hamblin and beating Hughes from the slot, then Sillinger snapped a shot through the Ice netminder’s pads 25 seconds later.
Bjorklund held on to secure the 28-save victory.
Hughes stopped 24 in the loss – dropping the Ice to 24-15-1-0.
The Tigers return to the Canalta Centre Friday to open a home-and-home set with the Moose Jaw Warriors (11-23-2-0) at 7:30 p.m.
