Medicine Hat Tigers forwards James Hamblin (10) and Jaeger White battle along the boards with Ryan Pouliot (7) and Colton Veloso of the Kootenay Ice during the first period of Wednesday's Western Hockey League game at the Canalta Centre. --
NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN
The Medicine Hat Tigers were 4.2 seconds away from their third consecutive trip to overtime, but Brett Davis had other plans.
The 18-year-old Kootenay Ice winger beat Tigers goaltender Jordan Hollett through the five-hole to complete the comeback and give Kootenay a 4-3 victory with the final shot of the game.
While the Ice jumped to an early lead when Martin Bodak beat Hollett on the power play — with newly acquired Tiger Bryan Lockner in the box for slashing — Medicine Hat answered back in bunches.
Mark Rassell put his team on the board just over a minute later by redirecting a slap pass from David Quenneville past Ice netminder and former Tiger Duncan McGovern for his 38th of the season.
James Hamblin kept the offence rolling just over two minutes after Rassell’s marker, beating McGovern with a swift backhand deke to take over a 2-1 lead with his 14th goal of the season.
But the Tigers weren’t done there. Defenceman Dylan MacPherson put his speed on display by jumping in on the rush near the end of a shift and setting up Ryan Chyzowski for a snipe to the far corner with seven minutes left in the first.
The Ice created a golden opportunity to put a stop to the bleeding when Colton Veloso was hooked on a breakaway late in the opening frame, but the 200-game Western Hockey League veteran was unable to beat Hollett on the ensuing penalty shot.
While Medicine Hat held Kootenay to six shots in the first period and just three for the opening 15 minutes of the second, Bodak broke through for his second of the night on a late goalmouth scramble to leave the Ice within striking distance after 40 minutes.
Kootenay managed to take over the momentum in the final frame and Michael King knotted things up after crashing the net and deflecting a Peyton Krebs pass off his leg and into the net, then Davis stole the game away in the final moments of regulation.
McGovern rebounded from a shaky start to lock up the victory on 34 stops — along with an assist on Bodak’s opener — to push Kootenay to 20-22-3-0. Hollett took the 19-save loss, dropping Medicine Hat to 24-18-4-0.
The Tigers return to the Canalta Centre Saturday to host the Prince Albert Raiders (16-19-6-2) at 7:30 p.m.
