PHOTO COURTESY JOHN KELLER TRI-CITY AMERICANS
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Gavin McKenna reaches for a puck in the second period of a 3-1, Tigers' win Saturday at the Toyota Center in Kennewick, Wash. McKenna finished with two assists, extending his point streak to 22 games.
Medicine Hat turned K-Town into Tiger Town Saturday night.
The Tigers scored twice in the second period, adding another tally in the third period to beat the Tri-City-City Americans 3-0 for a ninth-straight win.
They’re 2-0 to start the U.S. division road trip, coming off a 3-2 comeback win Friday night over the Spokane Chiefs that saw the Tigers scored three unanswered goals in 5:01 of the third period for the win.
Saturday night, Medicine Hat controlled the pace of play in the first period, outshooting Tri-City 12-5 but unable to find the back of the net. That changed in the second period as the Tigers opened the scoring with a pair.
Just over the halfway mark, after Tri-City had the momentum to open the period, Medicine Hat struck on a passing play.
A failed clear from Tri-City was picked up by defenceman Bryce Pickford who carried the puck towards the left of goaltender Lukas Matecha. He sent a pass to Gavin McKenna in the slot. The Tigers’ leading scorer sent the puck back to Pickford who blasted home his WHL defencemen leading 19th of the season.
McKenna had the lone assist on the 12:20 marker, extending his point streak to 22 games, the longest active streak in the WHL.
They struck again, 3:26 later on the rush.
The line of Mat Ward, Marcus Pacheco and Hunter St. Martin stormed up ice with two defenders between them and the net. Ward passed the puck off in the neutral zone to Pacheco who broke into the Americans’ end. He sent a pass to the crease that was stopped by Matchea, but laying outside the blue. Ward scooped it up and scored his 12th of the season off the loose puck. Jonas Woo had the second assist as the Tigers led 2-0 after 40 minutes.
Ti-City got on the board early in the third period.
After starting the frame with sustained pressure in the Tigers’ end, Americans’ forward Max Curran dug a puck out of a corner battle and sent a pass to captain Jake Sloan who scored with a backhand goal over Harrison Meneghin to make it a 2-1 Medicine Hat lead 3:48 into the third.
That was the lone goal Meneghin allowed, making 21 saves for his 12th win of the season.
The Tigers regained a two-goal lead just over two minutes later, quieting the crowd of 4,131 in Kennewick’s Toyota Center.
On a power play, Tanner Molendyk carried the puck up the ice and stopped up at the point and passed it off to McKenna at the top of the slot. He sent a pass over to Oasiz Wiesblatt who wired home his 21st of the season for the 3-1 lead at 5:53.
The Tigers held on with the lead, outshooting Tri-City 12-9 in the frame to preserve the 3-1 win.
They outshot the Americans 32-22 over 60 minutes. Across the ice from Meneghin, Match stopped 29 shots. Medicine Hat was 1-3 on the power play, holding Tri-City scoreless on two man advantages. Tri-City won the face-off battle, 31-22.
The Tigers (30-15-2) are off for a pair of days before they head to Wenatchee on Tuesday to face the Wild. It will be the first time the Tigers have played at Wenatchee since the former Winnipeg Ice franchise was moved to the U.S. division ahead of the 2023-24 season.
