The Medicine Hat Tigers took over as early-season kings of the Central division.
The Tigers beat the Edmonton Oil Kings 5-2 Wednesday night at Co-op Place for a fourth-straight win. With the victory, the Tigers are tied with the Oil Kings for the Central division lead, holding first with one fewer game played.
Wednesday’s game was the Oil Kings sixth road game on the season, playing just one contest at home. They entered the week as the No. 4 ranked team in the CHL, well-earned Tigers’ head coach Willie Desjardins says.
“They’ve been on the road the whole time, they’ve had nothing at home so they’re certainly deserving of the record,” Desjardins said. “The difference was Switzy. He had a really strong game for us. I thought we did the things we had to do, there were a lot of guys who stepped up and we needed them.”
Jordan Switzer finished with 25 saves for his fourth win of the season. He faced nine shots in each frame, getting more rubber early in the game that allowed him to settle into the night.
“It’s good to get touches early to get into the game a little bit,” Switzer said. “We bounced back really good after the first  five minutes, so it was a good team win.”
After Edmonton had early momentum, the Tigers opened the scoring late in the first period.
In the dying seconds of a power play, Jonas Woo carried the puck in from the point and fired a shot on Edmonton starter Ethan Simcoe that ricocheted to the slot. Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll grabbed the loose puck at the hashmarks and scored at the side of the net with 1:28 left in the opening frame.
“It’s good to score, but  what really matters is that we’re winning,” Gordon-Carroll said. “So I’m just going to keep doing what I can for the Tigers to keep winning hockey games. So that’s all that’s important.”
The Salt Lake City, Utah product’s third of the season gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes, they outshot Edmonton 13-9 in the period.
The Oil Kings took advantage of a Tigers’ power play early in the second to tie up the game.
Gavin Hodnett kicked off an electric period for himself. He picked off a puck at his own blue line on a Medicine Hat man advantage before flying down the ice to score on starter Jordan Switzer. His second on the year and third career shorthanded goal tied the game up at 1-1 5:28 into the middle frame. He had other chances as the Oil Kings pushed for the lead in the frame, held at bay by Switzer.
The Tigers regained the lead 2:08 later.
Woo walked the line with the puck and fired it through traffic, beating Simcoe for the 2-1 Medicine Hat lead. Bryce Pickford and Yaroslav Bryzgalov had the assists on Woo’s third of the season.
The Tigers made it a 3-1 lead early in the third on the tail-end of a penalty kill.
Edmonton forward Miroslav Holinka whiffed on a shot at the blue line on an Oil Kings power play and Misha Volotovskii pounced, flying up ice before scoring on a back-hand move for his fourth of the season and the two-gaol lead at 5:53.
“I think backhand goals are pretty cool, so I thought I’d try the backhand,” Volotovskii said.
The Oil Kings made it interesting later in the third period. Andrew O’Neill took a pass in the neutral zone from Landon Hanson and skating with momentum, flew by a Tigers defender before scoring five hole on Switzer to make it a 3-2 game with 6:16 left in the game.
Medicine Hat held on, with Dayton Reschny and Gordon-Carroll each scoring on the empty net for the 5-2 final. Kadon McCann had assists on both empty netters and Woo also had a helper on Reschny’s second of the year. Desjardins says they leaned on the pairing of Pickford and Woo late to help preserve the lead.
“Pickford and Woo are really good back there, they’re strong, they’re hard to play against,” Desjardins said. “I like our group. We have a lot of work to do, like a lot of work, but guys are getting better.”
Medicine Hat was without defenceman Niilopekka Muhonen who was a late scratch after taking warmups. Desjardins says the Finnish blue liner has been dealing with a nagging injury since returning from Dallas Stars’ training camp.
Across the ice from Switzer, Simcoe had 27 saves. The Tigers out-shot Edmonton 32-27 and held them scoreless on three power plays. Medicine Hat scored on one of their four power plays, also allowing a shorthanded goal. Medicine Hat won the face-off battle 41-26.
The Tigers (5-1) head to Calgary on Friday to face the Hitmen six days after beating them 7-1 at Co-op Place on Cot. 4. They’ll host the Portland Winterhawks and Medicine Hat product Ryan Miller on Saturday.
Editors note: Scoring update on the Tigers second and fourth goal due to stats adjustments.
