Tigers get revenge with win over Hitmen

By Ryan McCracken on November 5, 2018.

rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com @MHNMcCracken

The Medicine Hat Tigers got the early jump they needed on Sunday night at the Canalta Centre.

After playing catch-up for the entirety of Friday’s loss to the Hitmen in Calgary, the Tigers left little to chance by dominating the early play and closing out their home-and-home set with a 5-4 victory.

“It’s always hard playing from behind,” said Tigers goaltender Jordan Hollett, who made 36 saves in the victory. “It’s just a little bit easier mentally — whether it should be or not, it probably shouldn’t be and you should probably act the same way all the time but mentally it is always easier — knowing that you have that lead.”

Tigers rookie Corson Hopwo kick-started the offence six minutes into the first period when he forced a breakaway and beat Hitmen goaltender Jack McNaughton on the backhand for the first goal of his Western Hockey League career.

“We’re going to make sure we let him know a couple times to remember that one,” said Hollett. “I didn’t know if he was going to do it when he lost the puck at the blue line a little bit going in, but I’m really excited for him.”

While Hitmen centre Cael Zimmerman responded by banking a puck off a Tiger defender and into the net 15 seconds later, Josh Williams and Hayden Ostir struck in succession to give Medicine Hat a two-goal cushion after 20 minutes.

Williams took back the lead by chipping a rebound over McNaughton, then Ostir tacked on with some insurance by ripping a wrist shot into the net with Dakota Krebs in the box for cross checking.

The Hitmen pushed back midway through the second period when Kaden Elder pounced on a loose puck and beat Hollett to finish off a goalmouth scramble.

While Calgary looked poised to strike for an equalizer with Logan Christensen in the bin for cross checking, the Tigers killed off the infraction to improve their league-best home penalty kill, then Linus Nassen sprung into action.

The 20-year-old Swedish defenceman jumped in on the rush and threaded a pass from Ryan Jevne into the net, then struck again with a point shot three minutes later to put the Tigers up by three. Tyler Preziuso and James Hamblin each picked up an assist in the process, pushing Preziuso’s point streak to nine games and Hamblin’s to eight.

“I have to keep joining the rushes because that’s the D-man I am. That’s why I got drafted, that’s why I’m here today,” said Nassen, a third-round draft pick of the Florida Panthers. “Jevne had a really good pass to me for my first one and the second one was a power-play one-timer. It’s fun to score, of course, and it’s even more fun to win.”

Hitmen winger Luke Coleman cut into the deficit by beating Hollett through the legs on a backhand deke late in the middle frame. The tally sparked life on Calgary’s bench and paved the way for an impressive pushback effort in the third.

“We came out hard in the third and we battled,” said Elder. “I think the shots were 15-1 for us. We just stuck to our systems and the small details in the third. We gave them a really good push.”

After hemming Medicine Hat into the their own end for the majority of the third, Elder finally cashed in with Calgary’s net empty to keep the Tigers on their heels, but Hollett held the door closed to lock up the victory and push his team to 9-7-0-2 on the year.

“He was real good in the third. There were some tense moments and he looked confident, he looked calm and he did a real good job battling for us,” Tigers head coach Shaun Clouston said of Hollett. “We’ve got to do a little bit of a better job in the D-zone. There are still some nerves there, but we got through it. I think that’s a real positive, when you get into those tough ones and you get through it.”

They threw everything at us. They had some good looks and some chances but we did get through it so we’ll build off that, we’ll learn from it.”

McNaughton stopped 23 in the loss, dropping Calgary to 5-11-2-0.

The Tigers return to the Canalta Centre Friday to host Max Gerlach, Gary Haden and the Saskatoon Blades.

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