Tigers fall 5-2 Tuesday night in Seattle

By James Tubb on October 11, 2022.

The Medicine Hat Tigers were handed their first regulation loss of the U.S. road trip Tuesday night.

The Tigers fell 5-2 to the Seattle Thunderbirds as the Kent, Was. based team remains perfect on the season, with a franchise best 5-0 record to start the campaign.

Medicine Hat came into the contest off the Thanksgiving weekend and a 3-2 overtime loss in Portland against the Winterhawks on Saturday.

It was the Thunderbirds who opened the game’s scoring on a power play, when former Saskatoon Blades forward Kyle Crnkovic scored 4:17 into the contest. Lucas Ciona and Jared Davidson had the assists on Crnkovic’s third goal of the season.

The Tigers answered back with a goal full of firsts. A 1:37 after Crnkovic’s goal, forward Hunter St. Martin scored on the Thunderbirds second power play for the Tigers first shorthanded goal of the season and his first Western Hockey League goal.

Seattle had the only offence of the second period with Gracyn Sawchyn’s fourth goal of the season. The Thunderbirds kept the offence flowing in the third period as defenceman Reid Schafer pushed Seattle’s lead to 3-1 with a short handed, seeing eye backhand shot that snuck through Tigers net minder Beckett Langkow 12:18 into the final frame. Langkow, who has been between the pipes for all six of the Tigers games, made 26 saves in Tuesday’s loss.

The Tigers answered 10 seconds later with a power play goal from defenceman Reid Andresen. Forwards Andrew Basha and Oasiz Wiesblatt had the assists on Andresen’s second goal of the season.

It only took 23 seconds but Seattle re-established their two-goal lead and cemented their fifth straight win. Gabe Ludwig scored with a through the legs pass from Gracyn Sawchyn in front of Langkow for the lead. The Thunderbirds added their final contest on an empty net marker from Schafer for the 5-2 win.

The Tigers (2-3-1) are back in action Wednesday when they travel to Try-City to take on the Americans. That contest gets underway at 8:05 p.m. MST.