Tigers fall 6-5 to Moose Jaw in shootout
By James Tubb on January 26, 2024.
The Medicine Hat Tigers went all the way Friday night to pickup a point. The Tigers scored three first period goals and came back late before falling 6-5 in the shootout to the Moose Jaw Warriors. Medicine Hat came into the contest off a 7-4 win Sunday at Brandon over the Wheat Kings. They were also playing shorthanded, with Marcus Pacheco and Jack Kachkowski scratched from the lineup leaving them with nine natural forwards and seven defenceman. The Tigers rattled off three goals early in the first to open what become a wild contest. Gavin McKenna scored five minutes into the game on a rush set up off a pass from Oasiz Wiesblatt. Hunter St. Martin had the assist. Hayden Harsanyi scored 1:16 later on a two-on-one breakaway as Vasyl Spilka sent him the puck for a tap-in. Just 1:32 later, Reid Andresen sent a pass over to McKenna in the Moose Jaw end and he one-timed it home for his second of the frame and 20th of the season. Moose Jaw found twine of their own with a pair of goals from  Jagger Firkus and Denton Mateychuk to make it 3-2 Medicine Hat after 20 minutes. The Warriors outshot the Tigers 29-12 in the first. Neither team scored in the second period, the shots were a close 8-7 advantage in the frame for Moose Jaw. Dru Krebs scored early in the third with a blast from the point for his fifth of the season. Nate Corbet had the lone assist as Medicine Hat led 4-2 8:11 into the final frame. Moose Jaw answered back and grabbed a lead in quick fashion. Mateychuk scored just under four minutes after Krebs’ goal to bring them within one and Lynden Lakovic tapped in a puck at the side of the net to make it 4-4 with 3:30 left in the third. Mateychuk completed the hat trick to put Moose Jaw ahead 5-4 with 22 seconds left in the game. Medicine Hat took a timeout and drew up a plan. The Tigers won the face-off at centre ice and broke into the Warriors end. Andrew Basha passed the puck to Shane Smith who scored with 14 seconds left to tie it up and force overtime. McKenna had the second assist on Smith’s 23rd of the season. Both teams pushed in overtime but neither found the back of the net. Moose Jaw finished the 65 minutes of action leading the shots 55-28. In the shootout, all three of Basha, McKenna and Oasiz Wiesblatt were turned aside by Moose Jaw’s Jackson Unger and Matthew Savoie scored the only goal for the 6-5 Warriors win. Zach Zahara made 49 saves in the loss, his first appearance in a shootout. The Tigers (28-14-3-1) host the Warriors on Saturday at Co-op Place. 17-16
