NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers defenceman Jonas Woo has a puck poke checked away on a rush by Regina Pats defenceman Matt Paranych in the first period of Game 2 Saturday at Co-op Place. Regina won 4-2 to even up the first-round series 1-1.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com
The Regina Pats head home Saturday night with a win under their belt in the first-round series with the defending WHL Champions.
The No. 7 seed Pats led 3-1 early in the third period at Co-op Place, holding on to beat the No. 2 seed Medicine Hat Tigers 4-2 to take Game 2 and even up the first-round series 1-1. Regina head coach Brad Herauf says they aimed to come on the road and earn a split.
“We had a little bit more finish than we had last night on some of our momentum opportunities and we we just stuck with it,” Herauf said. “We went down another man, lost (Connor) Bear, halfway through the first period so we had pretty much 10 forwards, three lines, so a lot of credit to those kids in the dressing room.”
The Pats led 2-1 early in the second period of Game 1 Friday before the Tigers rattled off five unanswered goals to open the series with a 6-2 win. Head coach Willie Desjardins says Regina has been the hungrier team though two games of the series.
“They played good last night and they played good again tonight, their forwards have lots of speed, they got on our D, I thought they just did a good job,” Desjardins said. “They’re hungrier than us right now. They won a lot of battles, they won more battles than us last night and they were able to find a way, and tonight, we just didn’t find a way.”
Game 2 started with six minutes of penalties between the clubs, the Tigers killing off a pair before Regina killed off a penalty of their own. Medicine Hat then worked themselves out of a four-minute minor in the opening frame for the second straight game.
Regina opened the scoring for the first time in the series, Zach Lansard getting a touch on a Aiden Wagner shot that beat starter Jordan Switzer for a 1-0 lead with 3:21 left in the frame.
The Tigers responded 1:10 later, after stopping a Regina rush, the puck moved back up ice to the Pats end and Ethan Neutens scored to tie the game up after 20 minutes. Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll carried the puck into the Regina end before throwing a pass cross-ice to Neatens, Carter Cunningham had the second helper.
Through the first 20 minutes of Games 1 and 2, the Tigers accumulated 14 penalty minutes to the Pats four. Captain Bryce Pickford says discipline is part of their game they’ll have to address as they head on the road.
“The discipline is the first thing we wrote on the board that we wanted this round,” Pickford said. “So going to Regina, it can get really loud. They’re going to play physical, they have been all round, so we just have to be ready for it.”
The Pats grabbed a one-goal lead early in the second, Ephram McNutt circled behind the Tigers net and scored short side on Switzer for the 2-1 lead through 40 minutes. Regina goaltender Marek Schlenker kept the game tied with a diving save late in the second, picking himself up after getting knocked over and reaching across his crease to stop a wide-open Jonas Woo.
Schlenker, who grew up in Medicine Hat until moving away at the age of 12, finished with 21 saves for the win.
“Our team played outstanding today, our game really fits a playoff style,” Schlenker said. “Had to be a record amount of block shots from our team today, they were letting me see the puck, and then when they weren’t, they’re blocking it. So they made my job really easy.”
The Pats pushed their lead to two early in the third, Ruslan Karimov beat out an icing and scored on Switzer for the 3-1 lead 5:37 into the final frame. Switzer finished with 16 saves, the same number of stops he made in the Game 1 win.
“I thought he was okay, I think that we’ll evaluate but I thought he was okay,” Desjardins said.
Medicine Hat pushed in the third, switching up their lines as Andrew Basha slotted between the Ruck twins and Noah Davidson centred Yaroslav Bryzgalov and Gavin Kor. The elder Ruck struck less than a minute after Regina grabbed a two-goal lead, Markus tapped in a pass from Woo behind the net to make it a 3-2 game, Basha had the second assist.
The Pats held off the Tigers down the stretch, a late hooking call on Woo saw the Tigers chasing a one-goal lead on the penalty kill with 3:39 left in the game. Regina held strong with Jace Egland icing the win on an empty net goal with 50 seconds left. Herauf credited Schlenker for backstopping them through the Medicine Hat push.
“(The Tigers) are a top-five team in the country, they’ve probably scored more goals than anyone in the country, they’re good players and you can only hold them off for so long,” Herauf said. “We did a really good job in making them defend, making it difficult on them, and we dragged them into deep waters in the third period. We deserved the win tonight.”
Medicine Hat was without forwards Cam Parr and Luke Cozens for a second straight game.
The series turns to Regina for Games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively. Game 5 of the series is slated for Saturday, April 4 at Co-op Place.
