ZOE MASON
zmason@medicinehatnews.com
The Medicine Hat Tigers put up an impressive seven goals from six scorers in a decisive 7-1 victory against the division rival Calgary Hitmen on Saturday night. Saturday’s win came on the heels of another division matchup against Lethbridge on Friday, which the Tigers took 4-2.
Head coach Willie Desjardins is happy with the team’s performance over the weekend.
“It’s really important because they’re division games. Lethbridge is a tough building, so it’s good to win down there then to come back. Calgary’s a good team, they’re quick. The boys played hard, and we deserved both games.”
The Tigers opened the scoring just 13 seconds into the game with a tip from Yaroslav Bryzgalov, his second in as many nights. A shot from the point by Veeti Vaisanen was redirected by Bryzgalov to put the Tigers up before the first minute of play was over.
The Tigers struck again 11 minutes later, capitalizing on a power play. In a Ruck brothers give-and-go, Markus Ruck assisted Liam Ruck from behind the net, Liam’s second goal of the season.
Late in the period, a hit by Niilopekka Muhonen in the defensive zone led to a fight between Muhonen and the Hitmen’s Harrison Lodewyk. Both players took five-minute majors for fighting and the Hitmen forward took a 10-minute misconduct.
The Tigers outshot the Hitmen 16 to 8, heading into the second up by two.
The second period was a dominant show by the Tigers, adding four goals across 20 minutes.
Carter Cunningham opened an explosive third with his first of the season, a backhand under pressure off a pass by Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll.
The Hitmen answered with their only goal of the game 14:28 into the second after a defensive breakdown at centre ice produced a breakaway for Calgary forward Landon Amrhein.
The Tigers, however, answered the Calgary goal swiftly with three goals in under four minutes. The first Tigers goal came just 18 seconds after the Hitmen scored. In his season debut following injury, Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll notched his first goal of the season on a 2-on-1 with Kade Stengrim.
The following pair of goals were scored by Misha Volotovskii from Muhonen and Bryzgalov, and Veeti Vaisanen from Markus Ruck. The last goal trickled past Calgary netminder Anders Miller with less than two minutes remaining.
Miller did not return for the third, replaced by goaltender Aidan Hesse.
The pace of play slowed in the third period, but the Tigers tacked on another goal from Gordon-Carroll and held back the Hitmen for a 7-1 victory.
After the Tigers outshot the Hitmen in the first, shots were even in the second and the Hitmen outshot the Tigers in the third. But first-time WHL goaltender Carter Casey stood tall, stopping 30 of 31 shots.
“I feel awesome. It felt great. I thought we played really well last night over in Lethbridge, and I thought we brought it back here. We really played good and put on a show for the home crowd,” said Casey.
“He’s a stud,” said Gordon-Carroll, who finished the night with two goals and an assist. “He came up big for us, made some big saves, and kudos to him for keeping us in the game.”
The Tigers play next on Wednesday, when they face off against the Edmonton Oil Kings.
