Jevne pots a pair in third straight

By Ryan McCracken on December 13, 2018.

NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN
Medicine Hat Tigers captain James Hamblin is stopped on a breakaway by Kamloops Blazers goaltender Dylan Ferguson in Western Hockey League action at the Canalta Centre on Dec. 12, 2018.

rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com @MHNMcCracken

Ryan Jevne continued his red-hot December on Wednesday night at the Canalta Centre.

The overage Medicine Hat Tigers winger scored twice for the third night in a row to help secure his team’s third consecutive victory with a 4-2 win over the Kamloops Blazers.

“He’s really come on,” Tigers head coach Shaun Clouston said of Jevne, who has eight points in the past three games. “He’s shooting the puck right now, and I think he’s finding his range a little bit. He’s got a great shot. They don’t always go in but I think right now he’s feeling it. He’s getting pucks on the net off the rush and picking spots. A heavy shot is tough for the goaltenders.”

Medicine Hat took over control of the early momentum and Jevne capitalized on some sustained pressure by beating Blazers goaltender Dylan Ferguson over the glove for the 50th goal of his 243-game Western Hockey League career just over five minutes into the first.

“You can’t really focus too much on the long-term stats. You can look back on them when you’re done, but when you’re playing still they don’t really matter a whole lot,” said Jevne. “It does feel nice, but at the same time it’s just a small accomplishment.”

The Tigers continued to chip away, springing Josh Williams and James Hamblin on a pair of first-period breakaways, but it was Tyler Preziuso who broke through by chipping a behind-the-net feed from Corson Hopwo past Ferguson to put the Tabbies up by a pair after 20 minutes.

Medicine Hat found itself in penalty trouble early in the second period when Daniel Baker was called for tripping, but Jevne came through again —this time with a shorthanded breakaway goal — to snuff out any energy gained by the advantage and leave the Blazers staring down a three-goal deficit. The tally came moments after a puck trickled behind Tigers goaltender Mads Søgaard and off the post — causing the goal light to turn on behind him in error.

“He’s been solid all season. He’s a calming influence on the guys,” Clouston said of Søgaard. “I think all three periods he was a factor.”

The Blazers finally pushed back in the dying minutes of the middle frame. First Connor Zary picked up a feed from Martin Lang off the rush and beat S¿gaard under the blocker, then Brodi Stuart went bar-down from the left circle to cut the deficit to a single goal entering the third period.

“We didn’t come out to a very good start but that push we had in the second period was huge for us,” said Stuart. “That’s how we have to play, getting pucks behind their D and just being relentless on them.”

Kamloops opened the third by hemming the Tabbies into their own end, but Baker restored Medicine Hat’s two-goal lead a few minutes later when he threw a puck through traffic and watched it carry over Ferguson’s glove for his second goal of the year.

“It was nice to get one at home now,” said Baker. “I sort of just got it off the draw and it found a way in, it was a good screen.”

The Blazers put 13 shots on Søgaard in the third, but they were unable to find away to find another way through the Hat netminder and slipped to 12-14-2-1 on the year with their fourth straight loss.

“We got away from it a little bit at different times, but I really liked our start and I really liked our finish,” said Clouston. “The finish was what we wanted. We got the puck deep, we managed it, we didn’t give up odd-number rushes—we gave up a few of those in the middle frame.”

Søgaard collected the victory on 36 saves, pushing Medicine Hat to 16-14-1-2. Ferguson stopped 31 in the loss.

The Tigers will be in Red Deer to take on the Rebels (20-9-2-0) Friday at 7 p.m.