NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN
Medicine Hat Tigers Cole Clayton (34) and Caleb Willms (26) battle with Calgary Hitmen captain Josh Prokop during a Western Hockey League game on Saturday, March 13, 2021 at Co-op Place.
The Medicine Hat Tigers fell just short of completing a three-game sweep on Sunday evening in Calgary.
Tabby defenceman Cole Clayton registered a pair of assists to push his Western Hockey League leading point total to 14, but the Hitmen managed to escape with a 5-4 victory thanks in part to a 38-save performance from goaltender Brayden Peters.
Hat captain Ryan Chyzowski opened the scoring on an early power play, but the Hitmen answered with three straight first-period tallies from Cael Zimmerman, Riley Fiddler-Schultz and Jackson van de Leest.
Nick McCarry cut into the lead early in the second period, again on the power play, but Calgary responded in kind with a goal from Blake Allan to carry the two-goal into the third.
The Tigers pushed back again early in the third when Oasis Wiesblatt beat Peters for his second goal of the season. Calgary’s two-goal lead was restored with an empty-netter from van de Leest, then erased yet again by Brett Kemp — but Medicine Hat fell one short of forcing overtime.
Tigers goaltender Garin Bjorklund stopped 37 shots in the loss. Calgary improved to 2-2-1-0 with the win.
Medicine Hat (4-3-0-0) will now take a weekend off before returning to the ice March 26 to open a three-game set against the rival Lethbridge Hurricanes.
