Tigers, Meneghin shut-out Hitmen on the road Friday

By James Tubb on January 17, 2025.

The Medicine Hat Tigers opened the weekend in shut-out fashion.

The Tigers blanked the Calgary Hitmen 3-0 at the Scotiabank Saddledome with Harrison Meneghin making 20 saves for his second shutout of the season. Medicine Hat leaves the contest with a five-game win streak, snapping the Hitmen’s six-game win streak and Calgary’s 11-game win streak at home.

The Tigers opened the scoring early Friday night.

A point shot from Josh Van Mulligen was stopped by Daniel Hauser but Kadon McCann knocked in the rebound for his seventh of the season and the 1-0 lead at 2:15.

Medicine Hat grabbed momentum on a penalty kill. The Tigers found themselves with two players in the box and the Hitmen on a five-on-three man advantage for 28 seconds. The Hitmen took a timeout to draw up a play but could not capitalize on the power play with the Tigers clearing the puck and eventually ending up on their own power play.

After Jonas Woo took a high stick to the face, that took a review to be deemed a double minor, the Tigers made it 2-0.

Gavin McKenna carried the puck into the Hitmen end, skating through a pair of defenders to put the puck on net. It hung free in the crease long enough for Oasiz Wiesblatt to knock it into the net. Tanner Molendyk had the second assist on Wiesblatt’s 19th. Both McKenna and Molendyk extend point streaks with the assists, McKenna’s up to a league-leading 19 games and Molendyk to five games, picking up a point in each game he’s played as a Tiger.

The Tigers outshot the Hitmen 23-8 in the first period.

They scored the lone goal in the second, capitalizing on a second power play.

McKenna had the puck on the half wall before skating towards the centre, firing a shot on net that Ryder Ritchie swung at and bounced into the net. Wiesblatt got a stick on the puck before it reached Ritchie, who records his 13th of the season for the 3-0 lead at 10:32 in the second.

Medicine Hat held on, leading the game in shots 50-20 en route to the 3-0 win at the Saddledome. It’s the first time the Tigers shut-out the Hitmen in Calgary since a 2-0 win on March 20, 2011. Across the ice from Meneghin, Hauser made 47 saves. The Hitmen won the face-off battle, 44-19. Medicine Hat finished 2-6 on the power play, holding Calgary scoreless on four power plays.

The Tigers (26-15-2) host the Hitmen on Saturday at C0-op Place, holding a slim two-point lead for first place in the Eastern conference over Calgary.

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