Medicine Hat Tigers assistant coach Josh Maser outlines a plan ahead of a penalty kill in the third period of a 4-3 overtime loss Saturday night at Co-op Place to the Swift Current Broncos.--NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers weathered another shorthanded storm this weekend.
After falling 4-1 to the Swift Current Broncos on Friday, Medicine Hat picked up a point with a shorthanded lineup in a 4-3 overtime loss Saturday at Co-op Place to the Broncos.
The Tigers were without forwards Oasiz Wiesblatt and Shane Smith, both tabbed with day-to-day ailments heading into the week, according to associate coach Joe Frazer.
Wiesblatt was hit awkwardly into the boards early in the first period Friday, having to be helped off the ice and missing the rest of the frame before returning for the final 40 minutes.
Being able to pick up the point and be close enough to beating the Broncos with the shorthanded lineup was a sense of pride for forward Hunter St. Martin, who scored early in the third to make it 3-3.
“We’re out four of our top nine guys and we came in, guys stepped up, they played well, they played with structure and it was a great team effort,” St. Martin said. “It is a disappointing result, we wanted more there but that’s the way it goes.”
St. Martin says how they handle being short-handed gives them confidence for when players like Wiesblatt, Smith and Cayden Lindstrom, who remains week-to-week, get healthy.
“Tonight shows that every guy can play and we can have four lines, six pairings, two goalies and we can do a lot,” St. Martin said. “It goes to show we have a lot more with our guys out of the lineup but I’m really proud of our group.”
Gavin McKenna had a goal and an assist, Tomas Mrsic tallied two helpers and Nate Corbet also scored in Saturday’s loss. Zach Zahara made 33 saves, including turning aside some 10-bell opportunities after getting knocked down with a shot to the neck from Broncos’ star Conor Geekie.
Zahara, with a welt growing on his neck, says he just pushed himself through the pain and he enjoyed the playoff-like atmosphere at Co-op Place.
“They’re a good playoff team as well, also a great crowd by the city tonight,” Zahara said. “It’ll be great to get a couple more of those as we’re trying to play playoff hockey. We have to be our best and this is good test for us, it just shows where we are right now.”
The Tigers head into the week with a three-point lead in the Central division race, with Swift Current trailing in second with a game in hand. They’ll have some practice days until their next contest on Friday, when they host the Edmonton Oil Kings in the first in a stretch of six games in nine days.
As they approach what could only be described as a Navy Seals-like hell week with 10 games left on the calendar, St. Martin says they have to start the work and take it a day at a time.
“You go through some video, you take what you can, you learn from these games because it’s always a learning process,” St. Martin said. “You lose, you learn, as much as it’s disappointing, you’re always going to learn and get better off that. So we’re going to come in Monday and we’re going to work hard and next game Friday, we’re going to come hard and we’re going to keep winning. We’re going to come down to crunch time and grind this out.”
