NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Shane Smith celebrates his shootout winning goal Saturday as they beat the Lethbridge Hurricanes 3-2 at Co-op Place.
It took until the seventh round of the shootout Saturday night before Shane Smith called game for the Medicine Hat Tigers.
Smith was the lone goal scorer in the shootout as the Tigers beat the Lethbridge Hurricanes 3-2 at Co-op Place. The win comes 24 hours after the Hurricanes blanked Medicine Hat 3-0 Friday night in Lethbridge.
The Cessford, Alta. product was all smiles after the game and says he used his go-to move in the shootout.
“That’s my kind of my move, just coming in on the left side and looking for a shot,” Smith said. I’m not a big dangle guy in the shootout so I just like to get the puck on net and use my shot to my advantage.”
The Tigers didn’t wait long to get on the scoreboard as they lit the lamp 54 seconds into their frame. Rhett Parsons fired home a long distance shot from the point for his fourth goal of the year and the early lead. Dru Krebs and Andrew Basha had the helpers.
“I thought were resilient,” Head coach Willie Desjardins said about his team in the win. “I thought we had a real good first period, not a very good second but got better again in the third.”
The Hurricanes answered back a little over six minutes later with a 5-0on-3 power play goal from Jett Jones. Cole Shepard and Joe Arntsen had the assists on Jones’ 18th.
Lethbridge head coach Brent Kisio says they knew it would be hard to win both games in the weekend and saw a hard fought game from the Hurricanes.
“I thought Medicine Hat played real well, they’re fighting for a playoff life just like we are and you see that on the ice,” Kisio said. “Two teams competing hard and it could have gone either way, it comes down to the shoot out and we just fall on the wrong side.”
Medicine Hat regained the lead a little past the halfway mark of the period with a Brendan Lee Laser. The 20-year-old had a mini-breakaway and fired a shot past Harrison Meneghin for his first goal since coming off the injured list this week. Shane Smith had the lone assist on Lee’s 21st as Medicine Hat led 2-1 through 20 minutes.
Lee says it’s always special when they can win on a Saturday night in the Hat and was happy to get on the scoresheet in his second game back from injury.
“It felt really good,” Lee said. “I always think as long as I’m getting the chances it’ll come and it did tonight.”
The Hurricanes struck in the second period when the Tigers found themselves in penalty trouble once again. Arntsen scored on the man advantage, from a playing without a helmet penalty on Brayden Boehm, to tie the game up 2-2 at the 13:07 mark. Chase Pauls and Shepard had the helpers on the goal that had Tigers fans upset as it appeared one of their defenders was interfered with as the Hurricanes made their way into the Medicine Hat end.
Dejsardins says the penalty was a tough call because the play happened around Boehm as he tried to get off the ice.
“It’s always tough when it’s a call right on the edge, one team is not going to be happy and we were the team that wasm’t happy tonight but both those guys are good referees, they do a good job,” Desjardins said. “It’s just the way it is but our kill was good and we battled back.”
Through 40 minutes and the game at a 2-2 draw Lethbridge led in shots 22-18.
The third period didn’t draw any offence as the two squads traded chances with the Tigers outshooting Lethbridge 7-6. Medicine Hat carried a power play from the third into over time but could not find the back of the net, registering the only shot of the extra frame.
The shootout went the distance with both Meneghin and Langkow going save for save before Smith scored in the seventh round to bring the crowd of 2,580 to their feet.
Langkow, who had 26 saves on the night before the shootout, enjoyed the one-on-one competition.
“It’s a pretty good feeling after, it’s pretty nerve-racking during it but I was happy that I can put in a good performance in the shootout and happy we got the win.”
With the win the Tigers are back to .500 with a 22-22-7-1 record and sit in the eighth spot in the eastern conference playoff race. Their next action is Saturday back at Co-op Place against the Red Deer Rebels.
