NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Carter Cunningham misses wide during a shootout attempt as Edmonton's Ethan Simcoe spawls out during a 4-3 shootout loss Friday at Co-op Place to the Oil Kings.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com
The Medicine Hat Tigers salvaged a point Friday night at Co-op Place.
They overcame a one-goal deficit three times to tie with Edmonton and send the game to overtime before falling 4-3 to the Oil Kings in the shootout.
Edmonton’s Poul Andersen was the sixth shooter in the skills competition, scoring the lone goal for the Oil Kings’ win. It’s back-to-back extra frame losses for the Tigers who fell 4-3 in overtime on Nov. 2 at home to the Tri-City Americans. Before that loss to Tri-City the Tigers fell 6-1 in Edmonton.
Head coach Willie Desjardins liked their bounce-back from the previous Edmonton loss and the resiliency Friday.
“We played better tonight than we did in their building for sure, it was a game that we could have got more from,” Desjardins said. “The guys battled hard, it was good to get that point but it would’ve been nice to get more.
“(Last Saturday) we weren’t ready for them. Tonight I thought we were ready for a couple things that we changed, it was good. They got some life on the power play again, we have to stay out of the box. But that’s something that we have to keep working on.”
Medicine Hat was 1-2 on the power play, Edmonton finished 0-3. The Tigers won the face-off battle 23-21. Jordan Switzer got the start and finished with 20 saves. Across the ice from him, Ethan Simcoe made 32 stops. Switzer was in net for the five-goal loss to Edmonton, getting a better look in the shootout loss.
“He won’t be satisfied with that one, he’ll want more out of that one,’ Desjardins said. “He played good, lots of big saves, but he is pretty competitive guy, he had wanted to win.”
The Oil Kings opened the scoring Friday night with the lone goal of the first period.
Landon Hanson had the puck in the corner to the right of Switzer and he fed a pass through to the front of the net for Andrew O’Neill. The Oil Kings forward banged home his ninth of the season, putting Edmonton ahead 1:45 into the game.
The Tigers killed off the remainder of a penalty to start the second period, striking before the halfway mark.
After a flurry of chances out towards the Edmonton cage, Bryce Pickford loaded up and fired a shot that snuck through Simcoe to tie the game up at 9:06 of the second. Kadon McCann and Gavin Kor had the assists on Pickford’s eitghth.
The Oilers Kings grabbed a lead 3:25 later with a similar goal. Defenceman Blake Fiddler threw a puck towards the Tigers’ net that bounced off a defender and past Switzer for the 2-1 Edmonton lead after 40 minutes. Lukas Sawchyn and Joe Iginla had the helpers on Fiddler’s third.
Medicine Hat led the game in shots after 40, 19-17 and entered the third on a power play. They made good on the man advantage.
Pickford put a puck on net that kicked out to the slot where Jonas Woo knocked in his seventh. Markus Ruck had the second assist on the power play marker as the Tigers tied the game up 47 seconds into the frame.
For a third time in the game, Edmonton grabbed a lead.
Miroslav Holinka dumped the puck into the Tigers’ end, sending the puck bouncing off the end wall to a streaking Hanson who beat defenders and scored over Switzer’s shoulder for a 3-2 lead 6:41 into the third.
The Tigers pushed throughout the period, turned aside by the posts or Simcoe as the Oilers Kings looked to preserve the win.
Medicine Hag pulled the goalie with 2:23 left in the third and a face-off in the Edmonton end. The Oil Kings had a chance on the empty net, missing wide before the Tigers turned up ice.
Liam Ruck threw a shot towards the Oil Kings’ net that was stopped but hung in the air long enough for McCann, at the net front, to bat it into the net tying the game up with 47 seconds left. Woo had the second assist on his fourth of the year. Despite the World Series being over, McCann says he was swinging away during the week knowing he was playing net front with the man advantage.
“This week in practice I was working on it quite a bit, just being net front now, so I’ll keep working on it,” McCann said.
After forcing overtime, the Tigers had their chances to complete the comeback, outshooting Edmonton 5-0 in the extra frame. To no avail, the game entered a shootout where Andersen scored. Liam Ruck was stopped by Simcoe as the Oilers Kings held on for the two points.
The Tigers (10-5-2-1) host the Brandon Wheat Kings on Saturday, a game they’ll look to get the full two points from, something they haven’t done over the last three contests.
“Those two points, that’s what we need tomorrow, we’ve haven’t won many games recently,” McCann said. “Those two points are going to be huge for us to bring into the week, a huge confidence booster.”
