Tigers snap losing streak with shootout win in Red Deer

By James Tubb on December 11, 2021.

For the first time in 50 days, the Medicine Hat Tigers have a win.

The Tigers won 4-3 in a shootout against the Red Deer Rebels Saturday night to snap their 16 game losing streak.

Medicine Hat scored two separate times in the third period to tie the game up on route to the victory.  Entering Saturday nights game, the Tabbies last win came on Oct. 22, a 6-2 routing of the Prince Albert Raiders.

The Tigers got on the board first with a power play goal from Oren Shtrom, 5:04 into the first period. Saturday night marked the third game for Shtrom since Nov. 20 as he had been out of the lineup with an upper body injury.

Oasiz Wiesblatt and Dru Krebs picked up the assist on Shtrom’s goal as Medicine Hat took control of the first period. Soon after the man advantage marker, Tigers captain Daniel Baker was tripped up on break way and was awarded with a penalty shot.

The defenceman did not score on the opportunity but capped off a stretch of play where the Tigers controlled the pace. Red Deer outshot the orange and black 10-7 in the frame but trailed 1-0 on their home rink.

Red Deer picked up the pace early in the second and had multiple high danger chances turned away by the Tabbies Garin Bjorklund. Rebels defenceman Jace Weir fired a puck on net from the point that bounced under Bjorklund’s right arm as he went for a high save, to tie the game up at 1-1 9:09 into the second period.

Soon after the Rebels goal, Tigers defenceman Luke Rybinski nailed Jace Isley with a knee-on-knee hit. Isley was able to skate off the ice under his own power and returned to play in the third but the hit earned Rybinski an early shower as he was handed a five minute major and a game misconduct.

Medicine Hat killed all five minutes while only allowing a few Red Deer chances and picked up their own power play a little over a minute later.

The Tabbies wouldn’t capitalize on the man advantage and it would hurt them, because as Dallon Melin stepped out of the box, he was hit with a stretch pass from Blake Stevenson that led to a break way goal.

Melin’s second of the season gave the Rebels their first lead of the game with a 1:15 left in the second frame.

The first half of the third went by with limited chances from either team as the Tigers couldn’t capitalize on their fourth man advantage of the game.

Red Deer net minder Chase Coward had not beeb tested as much as Bjorklund between the pipes for most of the game. He stopped a mini Gleb Ivanov breakaway  to keep the Rebels up 2-1 halfway through the third.

Wiesblatt had himself a breakaway soon after, that Coward made the initial save on but, Shtrom was right behind Wiesblatt to knock in the loose puck. Shtrom’s fifth of the season and second of the contest tied the game up at 2-2.

The Rebels would not wait long to re-gain their lead though, as Arshdeep Bains potted a cross crease pass from Ben King to put Red Deer up 3-2 with 7:50 left in the game.

Medicine Hat clawed back late with Bjorklund on the bench and the extra attacker one the ice, to tie the game up on an Ashton Ferster tip-in goal. Noah Danielson and Baker picked up the helpers on Ferster’s seventh of the season that came with 1:26 left in the game.

Both teams picked up a point as regulation time ended with the 3-3 score intact. Overtime would solve nothing besides both sides having prime scoring chances, including a Rebels breakaway in the last 10 seconds that was foiled by a Lukas Svejkovsky tripping penalty, as the game headed to the shootout.

Svejkovsky followed up his penalty by scoring on his second round shootout attempt as all three Rebels missed on their chances to give the Tigers the win.

Bjorklund picked up his third win of the season as he turned away 32 of the 35 shots he faced in the contest. Across the ice, Coward stopped 25 of the 28 Tigers shots he faced as the Rebels still sit in second place of the central division with a 17-9-1-1 record.

After snapping their longest losing streak in 25 years with the win, the Tigers record sits at 5-16-3-1.

Their chance to start a winning streak comes Friday when they head to Lethbridge for the first game of a home and home series with the Hurricanes ahead of the WHL’s Christmas break.

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