NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers defenceman Matt Paranych fires a shot up and over Red Deer Rebel defender Elias Carmichael in the third period of a 3-1 loss Friday at Co-op Place to Red Deer.
The Medicine Hat Tigers open a busy weekend on a flat note.
The Tigers narrowly avoided being shutout for the first time this season, with a 3-1 loss Friday to the Red Deer Rebels at Co-op Place. Medicine Hat came into the contest off a 5-2 win Tuesday over the Swift Current Broncos, scoring five unanswered goals with a shorthanded lineup.
Head coach Willie Desjardins thought the Tigers had more pressure in the third period but didn’t do enough throughout the game.
“Red Deer is a good team, they played hard, they’re weren’t a lot of chances either way in the game,” Desjardins said. “I didn’t think we played with enough urgency. We felt good after the Swift fair game and and we just didn’t play hard enough tonight.”
Friday night marked the return of Andrew Basha and Tomas Mrsic to the lineup. Neither played Tuesday and Basha had been out since getting cut on the leg in a 10-4 win over the Spokane Chiefs on Jan. 7.
Red Deer opened the scoring Friday.
Kalan Lind redirected a shot in front of the net on a Rebels power play for an early 1-0 lead. Hunter Mayo had the assist on the shot from the point 12:49 into the contest.
They added to their tally in the second.
Ollie Josephson capitalized on a Tigers turnover in the slot and scored on a rebound, making it 2-0 9:14 into the second. Lind had the lone assist.
Medicine Hat outshot Red Deer 21-18 through 40 minutes.The Tigers avoided the shutout with a goal late in the third.
A scary moment came first in the final frame. As Oasiz Wiesblatt was sent flying full speed into the boards after being tripped up on a breakaway opportunity. No penalty was called on the play as Wiesblatt skated down the tunnel.
On a later power play in the frame, Medicine Hat struck.
Gavin McKenna fired a seeing-eye shot from the point that found the back of the net and ended Chase Wutzke’s shutout bid. He finished with 30 saves on the net. Across the ice from him, Ethan McCallum made 21 saves.
Shane Smith had the lone assist on McKenna’s 18th, which made it a 2-1 game with 3:31 left in the game.
McKenna says they didn’t have the battle needed in them early in the game and says he didn’t think they were ready.
“We were on our heels for most of the game, we just weren’t playing the way we usually play,” McKenna said. “We weren’t using our speed, we weren’t getting on the forecheck. We were just playing average hockey which isn’t how we play.”
The Tigers pushed with the empty net but it was Red Deer who capitalized. With 1:14 left on the clock, Kai Uchacz scored on the empty net to make it a 3-1 final. The win gives the Rebels their sixth straight victory
“They’re playing better than they’ve played all year,” Desjardins said. “They beat Saskatoon the other night, they’ve won a lot of games. Out of their last 14 games they’ve lost three and we beat him twice. So they haven’t lost much lately, they’re playing well.”
Medicine Hat (27-14-2) looks to turn their tides with two more games on the docket for the weekend, heading to Regina on Saturday to face the Pats before facing the Brandon Wheat Kings on Sunday.
“We just have to be ready, we have to have guys playing hard,” Desjardins said. “Both are going to be really tough games, so we’ll need good efforts.”
