NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers goaltender Garin Bjorklund squares up to the puck to make a save against Lethbridge Hurricane defenceman Trevor Thurston. He would score on the shot in the first period as the Tigers lost thier Saturday night contest by a score of 5-3.
Despite a third period comeback, the Medicine Hat Tigers hit the holiday break on a two game skid after Saturday night’s loss.
The Tigers fell 5-3 to their highway three rival, the Lethbridge Hurricanes, 24 hours after losing in Lethbridge 6-4 on Friday.
Medicine Hat head coach and general manager Willie Desjardins said after the game he thought the loss reminded him of the Tigers season so far.
” I thought there was good parts of the game, I thought we battled, we had lots of guys that cared and worked hard,” Desjardins said. “We got ourselves into a position and then we just couldn’t do it.”
Lethbridge opened the scoring only 1:47 into the contest as they took an early lead on Trevor Thurston’s second of the year. Chase Wheatcroft and Ty Nash, who scored in the Hurricanes 6-4 win Friday night over the Tigers, assisted on the opening marker.
The Tigers picked up a power play halfway through the first frame on a Nash tripping call. Hurricanes forward Jett Jones capitalized on the open space and scored a shorthanded goal to quiet the 2,345 fans in attendance.
Jones eighth of the season came after he contributed big time in Friday’s game with two points in the Hurricanes win.
Play was stopped late in the first period after a Thurston blast from the point led to confusion from both sides. It appeared Lethbridge had scored until the linesman revealed the singular puck in play had split in half with parts ending up in the net and around the ice.
Thurston said it shocked him and said he thought the play should have counted for his second goal of the game.
“What else are you going to do with it, it went in,” Thurston joked.
The rest of the first period passed without any offence as the Hurricanes out shot the Tabbies 13-8 and led 2-0 after the first 20 minutes.
Brayden Boehm had the puck on a mini rush and snuck a shot under Hurricane net minder Bryan Thomson’s arm only 53 seconds into the second frame. His fourth of the season and second in as many games was assisted by Tyler MacKenzie and Teague Patton as the Tigers drew within one.
Boehm said he’s felt his offence has been coming up over the last stretch. The Nanaimo, BC product has six points in his last nine games.
The puck stayed intact the rest of the second period as a majority of the frame went by quickly with both teams trading chances.
Lethbridge got a late power play on a Lukas Svejkovksy tripping penalty and capitalized on the man advantage. Nolan Bentham scored 1:14 into the Hurricanes power play to re-establish their two goal lead with 2:13 left in the second. The Hurricanes led 3-1 after the first 40 minutes.
Just like in the second period, the Tigers struck early in the third to bring them within one.
Patton wired a shot top shelf on Thomson 45 seconds into a Medicine Hat power play for his fifth of the season. Tigers rookie Andrew Basha and MacKenzie picked up the helpers on the lead cutting goal.
Medicine Hat quickly had another power play minutes later that was saved by goaltender Garin Bjorklund. The Hurricanes Hall had a shorthanded breakaway foiled by a Dru Krebs hook that led to a penalty shot for Hall.
The Lethbridge forward came in strong on Bjorklund who squeezed the five hole closed and stopped the attempt to keep Medicine Hat within one.
It took a replay but the Tigers tied the game up at 3-3 halfway through the third. Svejkovsky shot a puck through Thomson’s legs that slowly trickled into the net. It was orginially waved no goal before being overturned for his eighth of the year.
Lethbridge did not let the game remain tied for long as Nash knocked in a puck that remained loose in front of Bjorklund for too long to re-gain their lead.
Desjardins said it was frustrating for the Tigers to make that comeback only to give it away.
“You just have to find ways to be better,” Desjardins said. “Especially when we came back and tied it. We played hard to get the tie and then to give it away right away was tough.”
Joe Arntsen scored from his blue line on the Tigers empty net with 11.6 seconds left to give the Hurricanes their 5-3 win.
Tigers captain Daniel Baker said they need to find a way to bring a passionate effort over the full 60 minutes to get wins.
“It seems like whenever we make a bad play or a bounce goes against us it ends up in the back of our net,” Baker said. “We just have to find a way to limit our turnovers.
Hurricanes head coach Brent Kisio said post game it’s hard to sweep any team on a back to back and is happy they walked away with the win.
“You see the way Medicine Hat played tonight, they played a hard game and I think it was a real good hockey game that both teams wanted to win and it was nice for us to come out on the other side,” Kisio said.
Between the pipes, Bjorklund stopped 28 of the 32 shots he faced in his 18th start of the year. Desjardins said he thought Bjorklund was good Saturday night and has given them a chance to win every time he starts.
“There was a couple tough ones that when you don’t see them, it’s hard to stop them,” Desjardins said. “He’s been good and we’ll count on him. I think he’s one of the best in the league and I think we’re going to get our game on and he won’t be facing the same amount of chances.”
On the other side of the rink, Thomson turned away 18 of the 21 Medicine Hat shots he faced to pick up his ninth win though 18 starts this year for the Hurricanes.
Lethbridge hits their Christmas break having won six of their last ten and sit in fourth of the Central division with a 12-11-2 record. As for the Tigers, they are embracing the 10-day holiday break as they currently sit in last place of the WHL with an 5-18-3-1 record.
The Tabbies are back in action on the road in Calgary on Dec. 28th. Their first home game back from the holidays is two days later, a rematch with the Calgary Hitmen on Dec. 30th.
