NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Andrew Basha celebrates his goal in the first period Saturday, his first of two tallies in an 8-4 win over the Lethbridge Hurricanes at Co-op Place.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com
A five-goal first period did the job for the Medicine Hat Tigers on Saturday.
They rattled off the five-pack in the opening frame en route to an 8-4 win at Co-op Place over the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
The Tigers came into the game off a 4-1 win Tuesday over the Saskatoon Blades. Lethbridge beat the Calgary Hitmen 4-1 Friday, their season-high third straight win.
“We knew Lethbridge would come and play hard, they’ve won three in a row and it’s always a rivalry between the two teams,” head coach Willie Desjardins said. “They got a good start and our guys battled hard, so we had a good response.”
The first period started with the Hurricanes finding the back of the net.
Kayden Longley scored on a Hurricanes’ power play 4:33 into the game for the early lead.
Medicine Hat then rattled off three straight goals for a two-goal lead, much to the delight of the 4,404 in attendance.
Josh Van Mulligen carried the puck behind the Lethbridge net and he passed the puck to the front of the net for Kadon McCann who wired home his 16th of the season. Cam Parr had the second assist as the Tigers tied the game up 37 seconds after Lethbridge scored.
Noah Davidson then carried the puck up ice, cutting through the middle before dipping to his left, firing a shot from the circles that found the back of the net for a 2-1 lead at 7:32.
Just 37 seconds later, Carter Cunningham tipped in a shot from Tyson Moss for his seventh of the season. McCann had the second assist. Cunningham’s goal chased starter Koen Cleaver, allowing four goals on eight shots. Leif Oaten took over in net, finishing with 24 saves.
Basha liked their response to the early Lethbridge goal.
“It was a great response, that’s what good teams do,” Basha said. “You don’t get down, you just flip the page and move on to the next shift. So we’re really happy with how we responded.”
The Hurricanes answered back 24 seconds later with a point shot from Matteo Fabrizi that beat starter Carter Casey, making it a 3-2 game.
The Tigers rattled off two more in the period to lead 5-2 after 20 minutes.
Markus Ruck fed Andrew Basha with a pass at the front of the Lethbridge net and the Calgary Flames prospect pulled out a flurry of dekes before scoring with a forehand shot at 12:03. Liam Ruck had the second assist on Basha’s sixth.
With 35 seconds left in the period, had another shot from the bottom of the circles that found the back of the net for his second of the period and 15th season. Ethan Neutens and Veeti Väisänen had the assists.
Just like the first period, the Hurricanes opened the scoring in the middle frame.
Owen Berge scored on a Lethbridge power play, directing a pass from Hudson Kibblewhite into the open net. Former Tiger Kyle Heger recorded his second assist of the night, also tabbing a helper on the first goal.
The Tigers had the only other goal in the frame, Liam Ruck getting the final touch on a puck that bounced up in the air like a pop fly before tumbling into the net. Niiloepkka Muhonen and Markus Ruck had the assists on his 29th of the year.
A three-goal third period kicked off with Basha’s second of the night.
He carried the puck through the Hurricanes end, lifting a backhand shot from the slot that beat Oaten for his seventh of the season. Liam and Markus Ruck had the assists.
After recording an assist in the first period, Moss found the scoresheet with a tally of his own. The Tiger blue liner scored a short-side backhand shot from the goal line for an 8-3 lead at 9:12. Davidson and Josh Van Mulligen had the assists on Moss’ eighth goal of the year.
The Hurricanes scored the final goal of the contest, capitalizing on a five-on-three power play. Easton Daneault scored on a cross-crease pass from Kayden Longley for the 8-4 final.
Casey finished the night with 17 saves, recording his 13th win of the season. The Tigers outshot Lethbridge 36-21.
Seven Tigers finished with multi-point nights, led by Davidson’s two goals and an assist. Markus Ruck also had three assists, Basha tallied a pair of goals, Liam Ruck had a goal and two assists and both McCann and Moss had a goal and an assist.
Medicine Hat was without defencemen Bryce Pickford and Jonas Woo and forward Shaeffer Gordon-Caroll. Desjardins has liked how the rest of the defence group has stepped up in their absence.
“Josh Van Mulligan has really stepped up, lots of guys were good, (Riley) Steen and (Tyson) Moss have come a long ways since the start of the year,” Desjardins said. “The two Fins are really good players and Gavin Kor has come back and played (Defence) which was huge for us. So it good to see from the group.”
Next up for the Tigers (34-8-3-3) is Wednesday night at Co-op Place, hosting the Edmonton Oil Kings.
“It’s a four-point game for us (Wednesday),” Davidson said. “They’re in our division and we’re fighting for top spot in the conference with them, so it’s a huge game and we just have to play our game and hopefully good stuff will happen.”
