Medicine Hat Tigers goaltender Carter Casey slides to his right to make a save on Calgary Hitmen forward Andrei Molgachecv in the first period of a 3-2 overtime win Sunday at Calgary's Scotiabank Saddledome.--NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers’ weekend slate would satisfy even the Rolling Stones.\
The Tigers capped off a stretch of four games in five days and a three-in-three with a 3-2 overtime win Sunday at Calgary over the Hitmen. That win came after the Tigers rattled off three straight goals Saturday to force overtime at Co-op Place, before beating the Hitmen 7-6 in the shootout.
Head coach Willie Desjardins asked his team ahead of Sunday’s game if they were satisfied with their weekend, and they wanted more.
“I said it was going to be a really tough game, like it was really going to be hard,” Desjardins said. “We’ve had so much travel in there and every game is an overtime game. So it was great, it’s not like we were unbelievable, but we hung in long enough to get it and that’s what you have to do sometimes.”
Seven of the Tigers’ last nine games have gone to overtime, giving them a league-leading nine OT games this season.
They picked up points in all four games of the week, dating back to the 6-2 win at Calgary on Nov. 19 and the 4-3 shootout loss Friday at Red Deer to the Rebels. It’s a stretch of points that’s reached six games for the Tigers, who have rebounded after a four-game losing streak. Beyond the points in the standings, Desjardins says a weekend like this can bring a team together.
“The boys can be excited, they can get some belief out of it, lots of things can come out of it,” Desjardins said. “It’s fun to win, it’s fun to win on the road. You know when you have a character win, you know when you’ve done stuff that you know maybe you shouldn’t have been able to do. So they did a great job and they deserve it.”
Standing out all weekend was goaltender Carter Casey, who recorded all three wins for the Tigers over the week. The 17-year-old net minder made 34 saves Sunday after coming in relief in Saturday’s game, entering in the first period and finishing with 16 saves. He says Sunday’s effort was one of his best so far in the WHL, liking both his game and how the Tigers played in front of him.
“I thought it was a good first half of the game, I didn’t see too much, it was good,” Casey said. “And then a 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.”
Kadon McCann, scoring his third of the weekend, opened the scoring in Saturday’s game, defenceman Veeti Väisänen also scored twice. The Tigers trailed Calgary 6-3 through the halfway point of that game before they came back. Noah Davidson scored late in the second to snap a 10-game goal drought before the Rucks combined for a goal from Liam to bring them within one. Yaroslav Bryzgalov tied the game up late in the third to snap an 11-game goal-less streak of his own. Liam Ruck recorded the shoot winner.
“They’re both really good players, both guys are coming along,” Desjardins said of Davidson and Bryzgalov. “Davidson’s really taking some steps. So it’s good.”
On Sunday, Bryzgalov scored in the second period and Davidson tickled twine early in the third for a 2-1 Medicine Hat lead. Calgary tied it up later in the third to force overtime. Saturday’s OT saw the Tigers unable to score on a power play that ended the period. But they made good on the opportunity Sunday.
In the extra frame, 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’s sixth of the season.
Markus remains the Tigers’ leading scorer, with six goals and 27 points in 25 games.
Like his head coach, Casey says their weekend of success such as this works in their favour in multiple ways.
“We had that four-game skid a few weeks ago and then to get three out of four points last weekend and a big-time seven out of eight this week brings a lot of confidence in our group,” Casey said. “But now we have to reset. We have two big road games next week, so it’s back to work and getting ready for those games.”
The Tigers were without Misha Volotovskii on Sunday, Desjardins says he was out with a day-to-day injury.
They are off until Friday when they head to Saskatchewan for a pair of games, facing the Saskatoon Blades on Friday and the East division-leading Prince Albert Raiders on Saturday.
The Tigers are hosting their fan skate Tuesday night at Co-op Place. The skate runs from 6:30-7:30 p.m., helmets are required for everyone on the ice. Entrance is by donation to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Medicine Hat.
