NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Gavin McKenna skates by former Tiger and Lethbridge Hurricanes forward Shane Smith in the first period of a 7-2 Game 2 win Saturday at Co-op Place. The win gives the Tigers a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference Championship series.
The Medicine Hat Tigers have put themselves in familiar territory to start the Eastern Conference Championship series.
With a 7-2 Game 2 win Saturday at Co-op Place over the Lethbridge Hurricanes, the Tigers have a 2-0 series lead for the third-straight series these playoffs. Medicine Hat took Game 1 5-2 Friday night to kick off the best-of-seven series.
“We got a couple early which was huge for us, then we scored on the power play in the second period but the game was a lot closer than the score,” Desjardins said. “For us, it’s good going into Lethbridge, it’ll be tougher there.”
The Tigers carried momentum from Game 1 into the opening period Saturday, scoring three times in the opening frame to the delight of the 5,886 in attendance.
Oasiz Wiesblatt scored 2:37 into the game off a pass from Gavin McKenna, giving the 17-year-old a milestone assist. McKenna’s point extends his point streak to 51 games, the longest streak in the CHL in the 2000s, passing Alexander Radulov’s 50-game tally set in 2005-06.
“It’s super cool, I couldn’t have done it without so many of these guys,” McKenna said. “It’s not every year you get a group like this and get the opportunity to play with so many special players. So I have to thank the boys.”
McKenna finished with five assists in the win. Wiesblatt has played alongside him for the last two seasons, he happily takes credit for helping the Whitehorse, Yuk. product reach the record books.
“A lot of his points came from me and him, we’re just such great duo and we kind of think a lot alike out on the ice. (Ryder) Ritchie has done a really good job joining and making noise on the line as well.”
The Tigers struck a little under four minutes later with a laser of a shot from Bryce Pickford at 6:08. Marcus Pacheco and Jonas Woo had the assists.
The final tally of the period came from the hometown kid Josh Van Mulligen. A rebound found the blue liner at the top of the circles and he unleashed a shot that found twine at 13:56 for the 3-0 lead. Kadon McCann and Misha Volotovski had the assists on his third of the playoffs.
The Tigers outshot Lethbridge 10-5 in the frame. They poured it on in the second period with four goals for the 7-0 lead after 40 minutes.
Just 1:32 into the period and six seconds into a power play, Liam Ruck redirected a shot at the net front from Pickford at the point for the 4-0 lead. McKenna had the second assist on Ruck’s third of the playoffs. The 17-year-old Ruck missed the start of the game after taking a puck to the face in warmups but returned after puck drop sporting a half visor, half cage face protection.
Two seconds past the 10-minute mark in the period, Pickford found twine again. The blueliner rattled a shot off the bar on a Tiger power play and the puck eventually worked its way back to him at the point. He unleashed another laser that beat Unger for his second of the night and fifth of the playoffs.
With 2:21 left in the period, McKenna carried the puck into the Lethbridge end and with three players around him, dropped a pass off for Volotovski who skated in and scored his second of the playoffs.
They ended the period with a third power play goal, Wiesblatt was on the door step and redirected a shot-pass from McKenna for his second goal of the night and 13th of the playoffs.
The Hurricanes pulled Unger after 40 minutes, he finished with 14 saves and for the second night in a row, Koen Cleaver took over in net. He stopped all eight shots he faced. Lethbridge assistant coach Ryan Aasman says Cleaver’s success was one of the positives they could pull from the two losses.
“Koen stepping up and playing rock solid was huge, the play of Brayden Edwards as well, we can play him with whatever wingers we want and he finds ways to make things happen and compete and do things the right way all the time,” Aasman said. “I’ve been very impressed with those two guys specifically and some of our younger guys have gotten some ice time and experience and feeling in the series has been important. On the flip side of that, we can expect more from our veteran players and that needs to come as well.”
Lethbridge got on the baord 3:46 into the period with a goal from Kooper Gizowski on a three-on-three rush, beating Harrison Meneghin off a pass from Brayden Edwards. Vojtech Port had the second assist on Gizowski’s fourth of the playoffs.
Desjardins lifted Meneghin from the game following the first media timeout of the third period to finish his night with 13 saves. Jordan Switzer took over in net for the last 13:31 of the game. The Tigers’ bench boss says they made the move for a couple of reasons, none injury related.
“Nothing good was going to happen from then on in the game, he had played well and they got the one goal, it was good to get Switzer in and get him some game time in case we need him. I just thought it was the right thing to do at the time,” Desjardins said.
Lethbridge made it a 7-2 final with a goal from Anthony Wilson at 10:19, he tipped in a shot from Logan McCutcheon for his second of the playoffs. Switzer finished his outing with seven total saves.
The Tigers outshot the Hurricanes 29-22 also winning the face-off battle 34-24. They finished 3/5 on the power play and held the Hurricanes scoreless on four man advantages.
The best-of-seven East finals series heads to Lethbridge for Games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday at the VisitLethbridge.com Arena. The Tigers ride an eight-game win streak following Saturday’s win. Pickford, who finished with two goals and two assists on the night, says they have to remain calm and bring pace as they look to close out the series on the road.
“When we go in their barn it’s going to be pretty loud and the fans are going to be pretty loud so we just have to go in there with a calm attitude, be ready at the start of the game because they are going to come hard,” Pickford said.
