Medicine Hat News
The Medicine Hat Tigers peppered Liam Hughes with 40 shots on Saturday night at Wayne Fleming Arena, but ultimately fell short in a 4-1 loss to the Winnipeg Ice.
Michal Teply scored twice and added an assist to lead the ice to the victory. The performance pushed Teply past Tigers forward Cole Sillinger for first in rookie scoring with 49 points in 41 games. Sillinger – who has 46 points in 42 games – has been out of the lineup since suffering an upper-body injury in a 7-0 win over the Swift Current Broncos on Jan 28.
The loss leaves Medicine Hat with a 33-16-2-1 record – 10 points behind the Edmonton Oil Kings for first in the Western Hockey League’s Central Division, and four points back of the Lethbridge Hurricanes for second.
Reece Harsch opened the scoring in the final minute of Saturday’s first period, finishing off a set-up from Teply to give Winnipeg the edge after 20.
Teply added another late in the second period, but Hat captain James Hamblin responded with one of his own in the dying seconds of the frame to leave his Tigers within striking distance entering the third.
Hamblin sits second in the WHL’s scoring race with 79 points in 52 games – five back of Spokane Chiefs forward Adam Beckman for first.
Medicine Hat mounted a solid push in the third – outshooting Winnipeg 14-7 – but they were unable to get anything else past Hughes.
Jakin Smallwood added some insurance for Winnipeg with seven minutes left, then Teply pushed the game out of reach with an empty-netter five minutes later.
Tigers goaltender Garin Bjorklund was left with the loss following a 25- save effort.
Hughes stopped 39 to back Winnipeg to a 31-19-1-0 record.
Medicine Hat went 0-for-5 on the power play in the loss. Winnipeg was 0-for-4.
The Tigers return to the Canalta Centre Tuesday to host the Regina Pats (18-26-3-2) at 7 p.m.
