NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN
Medicine Hat Tigers captain James Hamblin takes a stick to the jaw while trying to prevent Regina Pats winger Carter Massier from scoring during a Western Hockey League game at the Canalta Centre on Saturday, Dec. 8, 2018.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com @MHNMcCracken
James Hamblin led by example on Saturday night at the Canalta Centre.
The Medicine Hat Tigers captain sprawled out in the crease to prevent a goal in the first period then scored shorthanded in the second to help shake off an early deficit and hand the Regina Pats their eighth straight loss in a 4-2 nailbiter.
“James gave us a great effort. He does every night,” said Tigers head coach Shaun Clouston. “He’s night-in, night-out our hardest worker. He sets a great example for the rest of the team. He plays with so much heart and passion and it was really nice to see him rewarded on the breakaway goal there. It was a big goal for us.”
Although the Tigers dominated the opening frame by pinning the Pats into their own end for the majority of the period and ramping up a 15-7 advantage in shots, Regina’s Jadon Joseph broke the stalemate just over a minute into the second when he beat Hat goaltender Mads Søgaard for his second goal since being traded from the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Nov. 29.
The Pats were given a chance to double up on their lead when Riley Krane took a stick in the hands from Linus Nassen on a breakaway and was awarded a penalty shot, but Søgaard kicked out his right pad to stymie the chance and open the door for Hamblin to tie things up.
The 19-year-old Edmonton product laid his body on the line to prevent the Pats from scoring on a wild goalmouth scramble in the first period — taking a stick to the chin from Pats winger Carter Massier in the process — then sprung himself on a shorthanded breakaway late in the second and beat Pats goaltender Dean McNabb through the five-hole to set up a winner-take-all third.
“I saw that Mads was out of the net and the puck was bouncing around. That was kind of an instinct play, to get in there and make sure that nothing crossed the line,” said Hamblin, adding he was nearly out of gas when the shorthanded breakaway chance arose. “It was kind of late, at the end of a shift, but I kind of found a little extra and squeaked it five-hole.”
Ryan Jevne stole away the lead less than two minutes into the period when he cut down the left wing and beat McNabb under the glove for his sixth goal in the past five games.
“We really kept our confidence up throughout the game,” said Jevne. “Even though it wasn’t going our way early we didn’t get too frustrated. There were a couple points where guys kind of lashed out but we found a way to contain that and keep moving forward with our game plan.”
Regina pushed back when Sergei Alkhimov beat Søgaard under the blocker shortly after a holding penalty to Josh Williams expired, but again the Tigers responded in numbers.
First Logan Christensen took back the lead by redirecting a puck past McNabb just as Krane stepped out of the box for a tripping minor, then Jevne added some insurance on a breakaway goal with five minutes left in regulation.
“It’s been a grind lately,” said Joseph. “We’re in the game, but we’re not noticing we’re in the game. It’s just little details that are catching up to us. We obviously can’t afford to do that.”
Søgaard turned away 23 shots to lock up the victory and push the Tigers to 15-14-1-2.
McNabb took the loss on 40 saves, dropping the Pats to 8-22-0-1.
The Tigers return to the Canalta Centre Wednesday to host the Kamloops Blazers at 7 p.m.
