NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers goaltender Jordan Switzer sticks his elbow up to make a save in the first period of an 8-5 loss Saturday at Co-op Place to the Prince Albert Raiders. The loss snaps the Tigers' 19-game win streak.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com
The Medicine Hat Tigers suffered a heart breaking and streak-snapping loss Saturday night at Co-op Place.
They overcame a 4-2 deficit in the third period and tied the game up a second time in the final frame before ultimately falling 8-5 to the Prince Albert Raiders. The loss to the East division leaders snaps the Tigers’ franchise record 19-game win streak.
Head coach Willie Desjardins liked his team’s character in the third-period comeback.
“When you see that you know that you’re never out of a game,’ Desjardins said. “We weren’t quite good enough. There was things that, the guys were getting tired, getting beat up a little bit and it showed in that game. But our hearts were good and they played hard.”
The Raiders opened the scoring with a flukey one.
Daxon Rudolph fired a shot from the point that hit the end wall and ricocheted off starter Jordan Switzer and into the net. Rudolph’s 20th of the season put the Raiders ahead 1-0 5:18 into the game.
The Tigers responded with a shorthanded marker.
On a Raiders’ power play, Liam Ruck poked a puck past a defender at the centre line and skated into the Prince Albert end before pushing the puck to a streaking Josh Van Mulligen. The Tiger blue liner fed Ruck in tight and he scored with a quick shot to tie the game up at 8:43. His 25th of the season had the game tied at 1-1 through 20 minutes.
Prince Albert capitalized at four-on-four to start the second period, kick-starting a three-goal frame.
Max Heise scored on the rebound of a Rudolph shot, beating an outstretched Jordan Switzer for the 2-1 lead 34 seconds into the frame. Raiders captain Justice Christiensen blocked a Bryce Pickford shot in the Raiders’ end to send the play up ice.
The Raiders struck again a little over 11 minutes later.
Evan Smith carried the puck into the Tigers end and he dished off the puck, picked up by Maddox McCagherty who scored with a shot from the top of the slot to make it a 3-1 lead at 11:42.
Prince Albert grabbed a three-goal lead 3:28 later with Heise’s second of the night.
Jonah Sivertson had the puck at the point in the Tigers end and he sent a pass to the streaking Heise who corralled the puck with his skate before passing it to his stick where he beat Switzer five hole for the 4-1 lead at 15:10.
After killing off a late penalty in the frame, the Tigers drew within a pair.
Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll carried the puck up the ice into the Raiders’ end, cut off from going to the net and directed to the back wall. He tried centring a pass to the slot before scooping it back up and throwing it out to the point. Jonas Woo picked it up, had a shot stifled before he loaded up another wrister that beat starter Michal Orsulak with 15.2 seconds left in the frame. Pickford had the second assist on Woo’s 23rd of the season, he extended his point streak to 18 games with the marker.
They rattled off two straight to start the third, tying the game up at 4-4.
Noah Davidson fired a shot on Orsulak that rebounded to Kade Stengrim at the side of the Prince Albert net, he spun and scored to make it a 4-3 game at 4:446. Gordon-Carroll had the second assist on Stengrim’s 11th of the season.
They tied the game up a little under eight minutes later.
A rebound from an Andrew Basha shot bounded out to Van Mulligen at the point. He sent the puck cross ice to Markus Ruck who hammered a one-timer into the net to make it a 4-4 game at 11:22. His 11th of the season was answered back quickly by the Raiders with another odd goal.
Riley Boychuk had the puck at the side of the Tigers net and he sent it to the front where it bounced off the face of Alisher Sarkenov and into the net for a 5-4 Raiders lead 38 seconds after the Tigers tied it up.
The Tigers responded a second time, tying the game up again.
Luke Cozens ripped a shot from the face-off dot in the Prince Albert end that beat Orsulak, tying the game up at 5-5 with 6:26 left on the clock. Gordon-Carroll and Stengrim had the assists on his 19th.
Before the period could wind down, the Raiders grabbed the final lead. Heise tallied his third goal of the night with a net-front knock on a pass from McCagherty on the rush to make it a 6-5 lead with 2:34 left on the clock.
The Tigers pulled the goalie for the extra attacker and had chances before McCagherty and Braedon Cootes scored a pair of empty netters for the 8-5 final.
Gordon-Carroll, who finished with three assists, says their response from the loss will be important.
“The best thing about life is it comes right back at you,’ Gordon-Carroll said. “So you have another chance, another opportunity. But this one is a learning curve for us. But our group, we have no doubt in us. So we’ll be able to comeback from this one.”
Orsulak finished with 29 saves in the win, Switzer made 24 stops. Neither team scored on their three power play opportunities. The Tigers were without forwards Ethan Neutens and Yaroslav Bryzgalov, both serving the final game of their two and four-game suspensions respectively. They were also without defenceman Veeti Väisänen, out with injury.
The Tigers (31-7-3-2) will look to start a new win streak on Tuesday when they host the Calgary Hitmen at Co-op Place.
