NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers goaltender Carter Casey sticks out his left pad to make a save on Calgary Hitmen defenceman Hunter Aura in the first period of a 3-2 overtime win Sunday at Calgary's Scotiabank Saddledome.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com
CALGARY
After holding down the hatches on Saturday night, Carter Casey kept the Tigers in the fight Sunday.
The 17-year-old net minder made 34 saves to backstop Medicine Hat to a 3-2, overtime win at Calgary over the Hitmen. The win caps off a three-in-three weekend and a stretch of four games in five nights for the Tigers, picking up three wins and seven of a possible eight points.
“Casey was unbelievable tonight, that’s why we got the points,” head coach Willie Desjardins said. “It wasn’t that we deserve the points, lots of times we play pretty good. But tonight we got outplayed and he was just great in net and that was the reason we won.”
Casey came in relief in Saturday’s game, entering in the first period and finishing with 16 saves in the Tigers’ 4-3 shootout win at home over the Hitmen. He liked the effort of the group in front of him and his own night in the net.
“I thought it was a good first half of the game, I didn’t see too much, it was good,” Casey said. “And then couple penalty kills, they were big for us, the guys in front of me were huge. I had to make a few saves and the boys helped me clear pucks out, so it was really good. Got to overtime and then thankfully, we put it away.”
A back and forth first period saw both the Tigers and Hitmen hit posts but leave twine un-tickled as they ended the first frame tied at 0-0. Calgary had five shots to the Tigers’ four in the opening period.
The second period saw some more action.
Calgary struck first, capitalizing on a line change by the Tigers. Caine Wilke sprung forward Rylan Ng on a break as the Tigers scrambled from the bench with Jonas Woo catching up to Ng. The Tigers’ blue liner got a stick out in the way but not in time as the Hitmen forward unleashed his shot, beating starter Carter Casey for the game’s first goal 2:05 into the second.
Both Medicine Hat and Calgary killed off penalties in the middle frame as tensions started to rise in the third meeting between the club this week.
The Tigers struck late in the frame to head into intermission with a tied score.
Kyle Heger sprung the pair of Ethan Neutens and Yaroslav Bryzgalov for a rush. Neutens was in the middle of the ice, dishing off to Bryzgalov who skated up his left side before wiring a shot bar-down over the shoulder of Calgary starter Eric Tu to tie the game up at 1-1 with 2:05 left in the second.
Calgary led the game in shots after 40 minutes (15-12) and started the third period with 26 seconds of power play time. Dayton Reschny was called for a high stick on a scrum that ensued after the Hitmen knocked a puck into the net after the whistle.
The Tigers grabbed a lead before the halfway mark of the third. After killing off a penalty, the Tigers intercepted a Hitmen pass in the neutral zone and Markus Ruck carried the puck into the Calgary end. He dished off cross-ice to a streaking Noah Davidson who scored five hole on Tu for the 2-1 lead at 8:46. Davidson’s second of the weekend and seventh of the season stood as the game leader until the Hitmen tied it up on a late power play.
Harrison Lodewyk jammed home a puck on the man advantage to tie the game up at 2-2 at 15:01.
For the third straight game and a league-leading ninth time this year the Tigers headed to overtime. They ended Saturday’s overtime in Calgary with a power play, unable to score. They made good on the opportunity Sunday.
A delayed penalty on the Hitmen gave the Tigers a four-on-three. Liam Ruck fed Markus Ruck at the net front and he tipped in the puck for the game winner 3:42 into the extra frame. Heger had the second assist on Markus’ sixth of the season.
The Hitmen outshot the Tigers 36-20. Across the ice from Casey, Tu finished with 17 saves. Calgary was 1-4 on the power play, the Tigers held scoreless on two man advantages.
The Tigers (14-6-3-2) have some time off with their next game not until Nov. 28 in Saskatoon against the Blades, the first of a two-game road trip.
