Medicine Hat Tigers forward Nick McCarry celebrates behind Moose Jaw Warriors affiliate Jagger Firkus after scoring a goal in a Western Hockey League game at the Canalta Centre on Friday.--NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
The Medicine Hat Tigers slowly chipped their way through a brick wall named Adam Evanoff on Friday night at the Canalta Centre.
The Moose Jaw Warriors goaltender had a stellar start to Friday’s action, but his teammates were unable to generate much of anything at the other end of the ice – getting outshot 44-24, and eventually worn down by Medicine Hat in a 3-1 loss.
“I thought the guys played hard for the 60 minutes,” said Tigers assistant coach Joe Frazer.
“Sometimes those games, when you’re outshooting an opponent like that, you can tend to get away from it because you get a little frustrated that pucks aren’t going in.”
The victory served as a bounce-back for the Tigers, putting them at 15-7-1-0 on the season and 2-1-0-0 with one game left in a four-game homestand.
Eager to get back into the goal column after falling 4-0 to the Brandon Wheat Kings Tuesday, the Tigers came flying out of the gates – but it was the Warriors who struck first when Owen Hardy shoveled a puck through Garin Bjorklund’s equipment six minutes into the game.
Medicine Hat kept pouring on the pressure and Nick McCarry broke through to even things up when Noah Danielson found him on the doorstep in the dying minutes of the first period.
“I thought we got on them pretty early,” said Tigers alternate captain Tyler Preziuso. “Our key was to get on their D pretty quick and we did that. We made them turn it over and got a couple goals.”
Evanoff kept Moose Jaw in the tie game with 15 saves through the first 20 minutes, but it didn’t take long for the Tigers to put more past him in the second.
After forcing a turnover, defenceman Trevor Longo jumped into the rush and fed captain James Hamblin in the slot for the go-ahead tally just over two minutes into the middle frame. Tyler Preziuso added to the lead less than two minutes later when he ripped a wrist shot past Evanoff following a cross-ice pass from Cole Clayton.
“We had a good talk between periods about what we wanted to do. We came out pretty hard and fast, and that’s exactly what we wanted,” said Preziuso. “Cowboy (Clayton) gave me an unreal pass. I think we just used our speed, and crisp passes did it all.”
Evanoff settled back into his crease to preserve Moose Jaw’s two-goal deficit entering the third despite getting outshot 35-12 through 40 minutes.
“He keeps us in the game. We love him on our team,” said Warriors alternate captain Daemon Hunt. “He’s a good leader on our team and he’s a key to our success every night. It’s something we can build off.”
Medicine Hat continued to pepper Evanoff in the third while holding the Warriors to just one shot through the first seven minutes of the frame – a chance from Ryder Korczak that was stolen away by a highlight reel flash of Bjorklund’s leather.
Moose Jaw was given an opportunity to regain some ground when the Tabbies were booked for too many men halfway through the third, but Bjorklund came up with another flurry of big saves to snuff out any chance for a comeback.
“He’s been outstanding all year for us,” said Frazer. “The first 40 minutes we played really well and he didn’t have a ton of rubber on him, but to stay focused like he did – he really bailed us out with those two saves on the penalty kill late in the third. Those were game-changing saves.”
The 17-year-old Tigers netminder held on to secure the victory with a 23-save effort.
Evanoff stopped 41 shots in the loss – Moose Jaw’s third in a row – dropping the Warriors to 9-10-1-0 on the season.
“I think we just need to play more of a full 60 minutes,” said Hunt. “We had a late push in the third period, but it starts as soon as the puck drops.”
The Tigers return to the Canalta Centre on Saturday to close out their homestand against the East Division-leading Prince Albert Raiders (16-4-3-1) at 7:30 p.m.
