NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Shane Smith fist bumps Brett Calhoon to celebrate his first WHL point Saturday night in a 7-1 win over the Calgary Hitmen at Co-op Place.
The Medicine Hat Tigers struck first and did not look back Saturday night against the Calgary Hitmen.
Medicine Hat found the back of the net seven times for a 7-1 win at Co-op Place, their third win in a row.
Assistant coach Josh Maser said he liked the Tigers response after down periods and was encouraged how they never allowed Calgary to build enough momentum for a comeback.
“It’s great to see the resilience in the group,” Maser said. “It’s coming with maturity with the more games we’ve played, we’ve struggled with that during the season. But it’s good to see us respond and know what we have to do in those situations with our experience.”
The Tigers opened the scoring early in the second period with a tic-tac-toe goal from it’s top line. Oasiz Wiesblatt sent the puck to Pasha Bocharov who finished off the play with his eighth on their year, a backhand shot up and over Ethan Buenaventura 9:41 into the period.
They added to their lead less than a minute later when Shane Smith knocked in a rebound off a Brett Calhoon shot for the 2-0 lead. Dallon Melin had the secondary assist and Calhoon’s helper was his first WHL point.
The 18-year-old was confident when he saw Smith on the doorstep for his assist and is happy with how his confidence is growing through his fifth WHL game.
“My confidence gets better every game, I feel like I’ve gotten better every game,” Calhoon said. “I just have to continue to get better and create an impact as much as I can.”
Smith, who finished the night with two goals, celebrated the hardest for Calhoon’s point and was excited he could be a part of it.
“I looked and pointed to him right after and that’s pretty special moment for him too,” Smith said. “I was just trying to savour the moment with both of us, me getting the goal and him getting the assist.”
Calgary answered back at 13:47 as Oliver Tulk picked up a loose puck in front of Tigers net minder Beckett Langkow and put the Hitmen on the board.
The Tigers regained momentum again, scoring two goals in a span of 17 seconds for a 4-1 lead. Smith fired home his second of the game and 16th of the season, Owen MacNeil and Bogdans Hodass picking up the helpers.
Hunter St. Martin gave the Tigers their 4-1 lead as he picked the pocket of a Calgary defender and wired a shot top shelf for his fourth goal of the year.
The Tigers scored three unanswered goals in the last half of the third period to cement the win. Cayden Lindstrom, on a power play picked up a rebound in the slot from a Dru Krebs shot for his 13th of the season, Melin had the second helper. In the last minute, Kurtis Smythe fired home a shot for his first as a Medicine Hat Tigers, Owen MacNeil with the assist and Josh Van Mulligen also scored his first goal of the year, helpers to Calhoon and Lindstrom.
Smythe was happy to get his first in the orange and black but is more focused with the Tigers playoff race.
“I’m just happy the team won and that’s the biggest thing I’m focused on right now is helping this team make the playoffs and doing anything I can to get us there,” Smythe said.
Between the Calgary pipes, Buenaventura had 24 saves. Across the ice and in the home crease, Langkow turned aside all but one of the 30 shots he faced for his third straight victory and 16th on the year.
“Winning three games in a row, I felt like I just do the same thing out there,” Langkow said. “That just has to do with my preparation and it’s the same for every game. I’m happy with my play right now and I just have to keep it going.”
The Tigers (18-21-5-1) have a quick turn around as they host the Swift Current Broncos at Co-op Place on Sunday for a 4 p.m. contest. Maser says one of their focuses heading into the contest will be maintaining their composure against the familiar opponent who sits ahead of them in the playoff hunt.
“Every game now is a playoff game and it’s really good to get Swift and we don’t want to get too high or too low but we know what we have to do against against them tomorrow,” Maser said. “It’s exciting, they’re a really good team, they’ve been on a roll and it was good to get two points last time against them; We’ve got a little momentum going against them and we have to get a good start.
“It’s going to be a battle so we got to be ready to go.
Smith will be in bed early after Saturday’s win, as he says the key to having success in the turnaround is a good nights sleep and starting on time against a busy Broncos team.
“Just have to take it to them early,” Smith said. “We know they’re in a three-and-three and if we just have to take it to them, play our game and not let them dictate the game.”
