NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Oasiz Wiesblatt celebrates his game-winning goal in a 3-2 overtime victory Tuesday night at Co-op Place over the Red Deer Rebels.
For the seventh time this season, Oasiz Wiesblatt called game.
The Medicine Hat Tigers forward scored with seven seconds remaining in overtime for a 3-2 victory over the Red Deer Rebels at Co-op Place. His goal, the second of the game and second on the power play, was his 13th of the season and snapped a two-game slide for the Tigers from the final weekend of 2023.
The 19-year-old says the win brings a lot of energy for the group heading into another busy weekend.
“Even right now with the boys working out, there’s a lot of energy and it brings the group together tighter,” Wiesblatt said. “It’s a big bonus to the week and just kind of prepare and practice for the next three.
The Tigers were without forwards Cayden Lindstrom (upper body) and Tomas Mrsic (illness) for the fourth straight game, with both dealing with day-to-day ailments. Tuesday night was the Medicine Hat debut for forward Marcus Pacheco after he was acquired in a trade with the Kelowna Rockets on Dec. 31.
While the Tigers got the final goal of the game, Red Deer opened the scoring on a breakaway.
Ethan McCallum made the first save on a two-on-one rush opportunity from Jeremiah Roberts before Matthew Gard knocked in the rebound. Elias Carmichael had the second assist as the Rebels led 1-0 with 3:49 left in the opening frame.
The Tigers answered back 1:26 later with a goal that only the shooter saw go in. Gavin McKenna took a pass from Wiesblatt below the goal line and fired a laser that was in and out of the net before the goal light could go on.
The 16-year-old celebrated and after a pause and review, was awarded his 12th of the season, bringing the crowd of 2,362 to their feet. Dru Krebs had the second assist as the game was 1-1 after 20 minutes.
Medicine Hat’s special teams popped off in the second period.
The penalty kill was out to work and tasked with killing a five-minute major penalty against defenceman Bogdans Hodass. The Latvian also received a game misconduct for the hit 5:21 into the frame.
They killed off all of the major and on an ensuing power play, capitalized. After firing a couple shots on Chad Wutzke, Wiesblatt wired one that snuck through his pads and into the net. Andrew Basha and McKenna had the helpers on Wiesblatt’s 12th of the season, fourth power play marker.
They trailed the contest in shots 15-14 after 40 minutes.
Head coach Willie Desjardins credited their special teams for the win.
“Killing that five minute major was a huge kill, the game can get out of hand right there and the boys did a great job on it,” Desjardins said. “At the same time, we came back and got a power play goal right away on that, so that was a big turn.
“Outside of that, I thought the guys played hard. We knew it was going to a be hard game. They’re good team, they haven’t lost a lot so we knew it would be a tough one.”
Red Deer didn’t wait long to tie it up in the third. With an early power play, the Rebels maintained possession in the Medicine Hat end and a seeing-eye shot from the point off Hunter Mayo’s stick found the back of the net 1:47 into the third to make it a 2-2 game.
Both teams pushed in the third period with tensions rising soon after Red Deer’s goal. Tigers forward Kadon McCann and Rebels centreman Zane Saab dropped the gloves off a face-off and received a game misconduct each, leaving Medicine Hat with 16 skaters.
Neither group found the back of the net in the rest of the period, sending the game to overtime. The Rebels controlled play early in the extra frame before the Tigers took over, leading overtime in shots 4-1. Medicine Hat drew a power play with 39 seconds left in the overtime and Wiesblatt kept the puck in the Red Deer end on a clear attempt and skated in to wire it home for the final. Basha had the lone assist on the game winner for his second helper of the night.
McCallum finished his night with 27 saves, across the ice from Wutzke put up 27 stops as well. The Medicine Hat net minder picked up his sixth win of the season in his first overtime appearance. He carries the same mindset into each period but says he needs a little more of a reset with how fast paced it can be.
“Just kind of recalibrate the brain to get into it and know you have to be ready at all times, especially with just three guys it’s moving a bit faster, they’ll be open a lot more,” McCallum said. “The confidence helps a lot. You just have to think of it as having fun and trying to get the two points.”
The Tigers (23-11-2) are in action again Friday when they head to Red Deer for a rematch. They’ll host the Tri-City Americans on Saturday and the Spokane Chiefs on Sunday for the three-game weekend.
