The Medicine Hat Tigers broke through a brick wall on
Wednesday night at Western Financial Place.
Ryan Jevne finished with four points while Tyler Preziuso
and Ryan Chyzowski each added three of their own to spoil Jesse Makaj’s 45-save
outing with a 6-3 victory over the Kootenay Ice.
While Makaj held the Tigers off the board early and Kootenay’s
Brad Ginnell struck first with Corson Hopwo in the box for elbowing, Medicine
Hat kept up the pressure — outshooting the Ice 21-3 in the opening frame — and wore
down Makaj’s defences before stealing away the lead late in the period.
Chyzowski tied things up by redirecting a feed from Jevne
past Makaj on the power play with less than five minutes remaining the first,
then Cole Clayton took over the lead on a shot through traffic with 58 seconds
left in the period.
The offence picked things back up early in the second when
Clayton pinched in from the point and found Tyler Preziuso in the slot for
Medicine Hat’s second power play tally in as many opportunities.
Ice captain Peyton Krebs appeared to cut into the lead a few
minutes later when he put a pass from Jaeger White past Hat netminder Mads Søgaard
on an odd-man rush and celebrated as though he had scored, but a review
determined the puck made contact with both posts but did not cross the line and
the goal did not stand.
Krebs made up for the mishap on a power play in the dying
minutes of the second period, this time sending a pass from White into the
netting to leave Kootenay within striking distance after 40 minutes.
The Ice continued to chip away and Jakin Smallwood knotted
the game up on a centring pass from Cole Muir six minutes into the third, but
Jevne ensured their celebration was short-lived by stealing back the edge just
24 seconds later.
Medicine Hat’s man advantage went back to work late in the frame
and Chyzowski converted on the chance by batting a puck out of the air for his
second of the night and 18th of the season, then Jevne put the game away with
an empty-netter.
Søgaard held on to collect a 23-save victory and push
Medicine Hat to 29-18-2-2 on the season.
Kootenay fell to 11-33-7-1 with the loss.
Medicine Hat’s power play finished 3-for-4 on the night.
The Tigers continue their four-game road trip Friday in
Everett (37-12-1-1) against the Silvertips at 8:35 p.m.
