NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Lukas Svejkovsky makes a breakout pass during a Western Hockey League game against the Everett Silvertips at the Canalta Centre on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2019.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
The Medicine Hat Tigers had a six-game winning streak brought to a grinding halt on Saturday at the Canalta Centre.
Debuting two new players following a blockbuster deal with the Vancouver Giants earlier that afternoon, the Tigers were silenced by Everett Silvertips goaltender Dustin Wolf in a 5-0 shutout.
The result leaves Medicine Hat sitting at 20-8-1-0 on the season – four points behind the Edmonton Oil Kings for the top of the Western Hockey League’s Central Division with two games in hand. Everett remains tied with the Portland Winterhawks for first in the U.S. Division at 20-6-1-0 with the victory.
“The divisional race is really tight with us and Portland,” said Wolf. “We wanted to come in here and have a better effort than we did (Friday) in Swift Current. Beyond words, that’s exactly what we did. I was fortunate to have a lot of good blocked shots out there. It was definitely a full team win.”
Medicine Hat had two chances to break onto the scoresheet in Saturday’s opening period, but Everett took over a 2-0 lead on a pair of counter-attacks finished by captain Bryce Kindopp and defenceman Jake Christensen.
First Kindopp jumped in on an odd-man rush and flipped a rebound over a sprawled out Garin Bjorklund 12 minutes into the first, then Christensen followed up on Cole Fonstad’s breakaway chance and deposited the rebound with 19 seconds left in the period.
“I thought the first period was probably our worst,” said Tigers head coach Willie Desjardins. “I thought we were decent in the second and third. They just have a great team. There was nothing there other than that. I thought our goaltender played good. He had a lot of tough saves and he played well. The rest of us didn’t have our best game, but they’re a good team.”
The game was briefly stopped partway through the second when linesman Curtis Funk went down with a leg injury following a face-off in Medicine Hat’s zone. Funk was stretchered off the ice, and the game moved forward with only one linesman.
Hat defenceman Parker Gavlas and Tips blueliner Gianni Fairbrother were both penalized for roughing shortly after play resumed and Everett’s Ronan Seeley used the added ice to cash in and silence the crowd of 3,042.
The Silvertips continued to earn chances off the rush and Fonstad broke through a few minutes later with a shot to the top corner – leaving Medicine Hat buried in a 4-0 deficit entering the third.
“I think it’s just getting (the puck) behind them,” said Tigers captain James Hamblin. “If we get it behind their D, we stand a way better chance on the forecheck than we do turning it over and (letting) them using their speed. I think they did a good job of that.”
Christensen struck again off the rush two minutes into the final frame – tripling his goal production for the season in a single night.
Medicine Hat pressured for a way through Wolf, but despite throwing 41 pucks his way over the course of the night, they were unable to solve the reigning Western Conference goaltender of the year. The shutout stands as Wolf’s fifth of the season, and 16th in 103 WHL games.
Bjorklund settled for the 29-save loss – the first setback of his career in a starting role.
Overage defenceman Dylan Plouffe and 18-year-old forward Lukas Svejkovsky both made their debut in orange and black in the loss. The pair were acquired – along with a third-round bantam draft pick in 2020 and a conditional third-round selection in 2021 – in exchange for overage forward Tyler Preziuso, 19-year-old defenceman Trevor Longo, a first-round draft pick in 2020 and a conditional fifth-rounder in 2021.
Tigers forward Ryan Chyzowski left Saturday’s game late in the third period after taking a deflected shot off the back of the head. The 19-year-old centre skated off on his own before heading to the dressing room with trainer Mikki Lanuk. The Tigers could not provide an update on his condition Sunday.
Medicine Hat opens a three-game road trip Tuesday in Saskatoon against the Blades.
“I think we’ve done a good job of coming back after (games like) this,” said Hamblin. “We need to. It’s a big last week for us. We know it’s going to be a tough one so we’ve got to come back on Monday prepared.”
