NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN
Medicine Hat Tigers winger Corson Hopwo watches the Calgary Hitmen celebrate after scoring a goal in a Western Hockey League game at the Canalta Centre on Saturday.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
The Medicine Hat Tigers fell victim to a home-and-home sweep on Saturday night at the Canalta Centre.
The Tigers shook off a slow start and rallied to take a 3-2 lead into the third period, but Calgary Hitmen captain Mark Kastelic completed a hat trick to spoil the comeback attempt and lock up a 5-3 victory.
The loss was Medicine Hat’s third straight after collecting seven points on a four-game US Division road trip.
“We haven’t been, for some reason, where we were since the road trip,” said Tigers head coach Shaun Clouston. “It’s tough. The league is so good and we just haven’t quite been at the top of our game, lots of guys. The good sign was that I think we got there in the second period. It’s going to take way closer to 60 minutes at that level to get back to winning games.”
Eyeing a chance to climb the Central Division standings, Calgary came out blazing in the first. Kastelic gave the Hitmen an early lead when he snuck a shot through the pads of Hat goaltender Jordan Hollett eight minutes into the opening frame.
Luke Coleman followed up on the tally a few minutes later when he pounced on a rebound at the top of the crease and chipped the puck over Hollett to give Calgary a 2-0 lead while holding Medicine Hat to just two shots in the first 11 minutes.
The Tigers dug in and mustered a response less than two minutes later when Brett Kemp cut down the left wing and beat Hitmen goaltender Carl Stankowski to the top corner for his 27th goal of the season and fifth since joining the Tigers at the trade deadline.
“He’s got a great shot,” said Tigers winger Tyler Preziuso, who had a goal and an assist in the loss. “When you put him on a line with any of those guys like (Ryan) Chyzowski or anyone like that, he can get a shot off quick and he’s scoring goals.”
Medicine Hat shifted the momentum back in their favour with an energetic start to the second period and Preziuso found the equalizer when he redirected a feed from Logan Christensen into the top corner with Jackson van de Leest in the box for tripping.
The Tigers kept buzzing and James Hamblin closed out the dominant frame by jamming a rebound from Linus Nassen into the net with 10 seconds left – flipping a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead while taking over a 22-21 edge in shots after being out-chanced 14-5 in the first.
“After the second we were feeling good and confident, but I think it almost went the wrong way for us,” said Preziuso. “We were feeling too good.”
Calgary muscled their way back into the game when Kemp was caught boarding midway through the third period and Kastelic converted on the chance with a deflection on Egor Zamula’s point shot, then Vladislav Yeryomenko stole away the lead on a blast from the slot three minutes later.
“It was a huge response,” said Kastelic. “We didn’t feel like we played to our potential in the last seven minutes of the second and I think all the boys rallied together.”
The Tigers pushed for another equalizer, but Kastelic finished the hat trick with his second deflection of the night – this time with Bryan Lockner in the box for delay of game – and the Hitmen skated away with their second consecutive victory.
“Calgary’s got a really, really good team. They’re feeling it right now, they’re playing with lots of confidence, they’ve got some guys who are really driving their team,” said Clouston. “I thought in the second period we fought back. We managed the puck a little bit better, we spent more time in the O-zone, but we weren’t able to maintain that. I think it was a little bit mental – we didn’t have quite the right mindset.”
Stankowski stopped 27 shots to collect the win and push Calgary to 30-21-4-1.
Hollett logged 34 saves in the loss, dropping Medicine Hat to 31-21-3-2.
The Tigers return to the ice this afternoon in Edmonton for a 2 p.m. matinee game against the Central Division leading Oil Kings.
“We’re having a tough time getting the puck in the net but that’s how it is. I know I had a lot of chance but I couldn’t bear down,” said Nassen. “We’ve got to work on it, keep playing our game like we did in the second period, I think everyone saw it, we outplayed them in the second period and we’ve got to do that from the start on Monday.”
