NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Lukas Svejkovsky celebrates after scoring a goal in a Western Hockey League game against the Regina Pats on Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020 at the Canalta Centre.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
The Medicine Hat Tigers slowly chipped their way through Donovan Buskey on Saturday night at the Canalta Centre.
One day after allowing eight goals in a painful loss to the Tabbies on home ice, the Regina Pats goaltender returned to the crease in the Gas City and stopped the first 29 shots he faced before finally giving way to the pressure in a 2-0 setback.
“We knew they were going to come hard,” said Tigers winger Corson Hopwo, who had a goal Saturday. “They’re a good team. They’ve pushed Edmonton, Brandon – the best of the best – into late games and they’ve won. We knew they were going to come hard, we just tried to play our game and counter that.”
Medicine Hat swept the season series with the victory – as well as the weekend home-and-home set. They sit four points back of the Lethbridge Hurricanes (37-16-2-5) for second in the Western Hockey League’s Central Division with a 37-19-2-1 record and a game in hand.
“It’s been tight all year,” said Hopwo, whose Tigers have nine games left in the regular season. “We want to get to the highest position that we can, and that’s just working hard, playing our game and grinding out two points every night.”
Eyeing the season series sweep, Medicine Hat brought a fierce amount of pressure to the ice in the first period, but they were unable to break through Buskey’s defences despite 15 shots in the opening frame.
The Tabbies were given their best chance to strike first when Regina’s Riley Krane and Robbie Holmes were nabbed for back-to-back minors – giving Medicine Hat a two-man advantage for just over a minute – but Buskey kept them at bay with a slew of highlight reel stops.
“He sees the puck well and he makes good plays, so we just had to find a way to beat him and we did,” said Tigers rookie Cole Sillinger, who returned Friday after missing 10 games with an upper-body injury. “Obviously it’s a tough time getting injured this late in the season, but I guess you can look at it some positive ways. It’s a good mental break from the game and I’ve just come back stronger.”
Medicine Hat carried their momentum into the middle frame, but were dealt a blow when centre Elijah Brown went down with an apparent lower-body injury. Brown returned to the bench for the third period, but did not play.
“I was wheeling up the wall and right when I turned my shoulder I think I got clipped by one of their guys,” said Brown, who missed 13 games over the past two months with a lower-body injury. “It was kind of a low-key type of play, but at first the initial shock was there. I had that same pain that I had a couple months ago with the ankle. But after Mikki (Lanuk, athletic therapist) iced it for a bit I felt pretty good. I went out for the third, didn’t play, but they just don’t want me to get hurt any more.”
Buskey continued to provide a challenge for Medicine Hat, but Lukas Svejkovsky prevented him from carrying the stalemate into the third by ripping his team’s 30th shot home off the rush. The goal gave Medicine Hat a narrow 1-0 edge after outshooting Regina 33-9 through 40 minutes and holding them without a shot in the middle frame.
“We did give up a few chances there,” said Tigers assistant coach Joe Frazer. “I think we gave up five chances there in the second, I just don’t think those chances hit the net. But whenever you can limit a team to that many chances or that few shots, it’s a great team effort.”
The Tigers kept coming early in the third and James Hamblin found Hopwo streaking to the net for some breathing room three minutes into the frame.
“I thought it was great that we just stuck with it,” said Frazer. “It’s easy to get away from the game plan when you’re not getting the result with goals going in. I give a lot of credit to the leadership group for keeping the guys focused in the room and making sure we stuck with the game plan. The chances were there, Buskey was just playing well and made some big saves.”
The Pats earned their best chance to hit the scoresheet a few minutes later when Krane sprung himself on a breakaway, but Hat goaltender Mads Søgaard stepped up to make the save. The 6-foot-7 Dane went on to stop 18 shots for the shutout.
“I don’t think they had a shot for like 26 minutes there so I’m sure their coaches got on them, told them they needed to produce a little more and they did,” said Brown. “They gave us some scares. A couple posts, a couple shots from the slot that could have went in, but Mads was solid and helped us get that win.”
Buskey turned away 40 in the loss, dropping Regina to 20-33-4-2.
The Tigers return to the Canalta Centre Tuesday to host the Swift Current Broncos (10-45-1-3) at 7 p.m.
