NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Logan Barlage sends a back hand pass accross the blueline just inside the Calgary Hitmen zone in the Tigers 6-5 loss to Calgary Saturday night.
Saturday night’s Medicine Hat Tigers contest came down to the literal last second.
The Tigers made a three goal comeback attempt in the last 1:09 of the game but fell short to the Calgary Hitmen 6-5.
Medicine Hat head coach and general manager Willie Desjardins said the Tigers just weren’t good enough over 60 minutes.
“I thought we had a good first period, I don’t think we played hard enough in the second. Just had a few guys that weren’t good enough tonight, we shortened our lines up to three then we we played better. But we just have to have a little better effort.”
When asked how frustrating it is having to sit guys down, Desjardins said it’s part of the game.
“It’s hard for young guys everyday to be ready, they want to be ready it’s just a learning process and sometimes you’re not where you need to be,” Desjardins said.
Medicine Hat and Calgary traded chances early in the first as the play was all over the ice.
Owen MacNeil opened the scoring for the Tigers 9:55 into the first period to get the crowd of 1,945 into the game. Daniel Baker and Logan Barlage picked up the assists on MacNeil’s sixth goal of the season.
After picking up the assist on Barlage’s second goal later in the game, MacNeil has continued his offensive tear as of late with seven points in his last seven games. The 18-year-old said it’s always nice to help the team offensively.
“It’s obviously nice to help produce for the team, wasn’t enough tonight but it’s always nice to try and do your part when you can,” MacNeil said.
The Central division rivalry heated up quickly as Tigers d-man Rhett Parsons laid a hit in front of the Hitmen bench and was immediately challenged to a fight by Hitmen Zac Funk.
Medicine Hat carried the lead through the first as they trailed in the shot category 11-8 but led 1-0 after 20.
The Hitmen jumped out early in the second to tie it up and then pick up a 2-1 lead. Brandon Whynott scored his fourth of the season 5:40 into the frame for the tie and Anton Yatsyshin notched his third of the year five minutes later to put Calgary ahead.
Calgary ended the second ahead in shots 19-16 and on the score sheet 2-1.
Medicine Hat started the third pushing for the tie but had their efforts stopped by an early penalty. Teague Patton was guided into and bumpedCalgary net minder, Ethan Buenaventura to pick up an interference penalty.
After an exchange with the official, Patton was given another two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct, setting the Tigers up for a four minute kill early in the third while down 2-0.
The Hitmen made them pay for the penalty with a power play marker from Funk before the first penalty on Patton could expire. Medicine Hat was able to kill the remaining penalty.
Already up 3-1, Calgary continued to pour on the offence. Blake Stevenson and Anton Astashevich scored within two minutes of each other to extend the Hitmen lead to 5-1 with less than half the third period left.
The two goal run for the Hitmen spelled the end of the night for Tigers net minder Garin Bjorklund, as he turned aside 23 of the 28 shots he faced in 52:04 of action. Beckett Langkow took over the crease mid game for the third time in the last four Medicine Hat games.
Desjardins said Bjorklund’s played well for the Tigers but things weren’t going his way, which led to the goalie change.
Barlage gave the Tigers some momentum as he scored his second as a Tiger two minutes after Astashevich’s marker. Brendan Lee and Oren Shtrom picked up the helpers on Barlage’s marker.
That momentum was quickly snapped when Mason Finley scored 19 seconds later to once again put the Hitmen up by five.
The game was trending towards Calgary winning big on the road before Medicine Hat mounted their comeback attempt with less than two minutes left.
Rhett Parsons fired one from the point past Buenaventura for his third of the year to cut the lead in half.
Patton made good for the goal scored on his penalty by notching his seventh of the year with 1:18 left, Tigers trailed only two. Brayden Boehm and Oasiz Wiesblatt picked up the assists.
Barlage knocked in a rebound off of a Baker point shot to bring the Tabbies within one with 28.3 left in the game.
Desjardins said the comeback effort showed the Tigers are never out of it.
“I think our bench is good, I think guys want to play well, I think they believe they can play well, so there’s some positive stuff for sure,” Desjardins said.
With Langkow on the bench and the extra attacker the Tigers worked towards completing the comeback with two face-offs in the Hitmen end after multiple icings. The final draw came with 1.8 left on the board as Barlage looked to fire it home to tie it up but it was too little too late.
The Tigers made their late effort but fell 6-5 to drop their record to 8-26-3-1.
The Hitmen picked up their 17th win on the season as Buenaventura stopped 22 of the 27 shots he faced in his second win of the year.
Calgary head coach Steve Hamilton said he liked his team’s game in the win after coming off their 3-2 loss to the Hurricanes Friday night.
“I thought we played a pretty good road game, obviously the last five minutes was not how we want to close out a game like that,” Hamilton said. “But (we) did some positive things and we’re certainly not going to apologize for the win, that was an important one for us.”
Barlage said it was nice to get on the score sheet with three points in his first game at Co-op Place since being traded from Lethbridge at the WHL’s Jan. 17 trade deadline.
“I think just have to shoot the puck and bury my chances when I get them and try to keep doing that as much as I can and try to keep producing for the team,” Barlage said. “Try to help them out as much as I can in that way.”
Medicine Hat does not have long to stew on the loss as they host the Red Deer Rebels Sunday night for a 6 p.m. contest.
Desjardins said the Tigers will take the strong third period into Sunday’s contest.
“I think you take that the guys didn’t give up, they played hard in the third and those are good things for young guys,” Desjardins said.
