NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers net minder Beckett Langkow fights off a snow storm as he stops a shot from Winnipeg Ice forward Conor Geekie in the first period of the Tigers 6-1 loss to the Winnipeg at home Saturday.
It wasn’t the start to the New Year the Medicine Hat Tigers would’ve wanted.
The Tigers lost 6-1 to the WHL’s top team, the Winnipeg Ice, Saturday night, in their first game of 2022.
“We had some chances and didn’t capitalize on them. I think the shots were pretty close, they just seemed to capitalize on their chances and we didn’t capitalize on ours,” Desjardins said.
The Tigers picked up their 20th loss of the season in the defeat as their record sits at 6-20-3-1. Winnipeg is atop the WHL with a record of 27-5-2.
Medicine Hat outshot the Ice 28-27 in the game and were almost shutout by Gage Alexander who lost his shutout bid late in the game after stopping 27 0f 28 shots.
Ice head coach James Patrick said he thought his squad had a whole team effort in the win.
“If I’m looking at what went right for us in the game, I just think it was that we won some battles in the offensive zone and I thought we collapsed and we didn’t cheat on the defensive side,” Patrick said. “…I thought Gage was really solid.”
Winnipeg’s Connor McClennon scored his league leading 24th goal of the season to put the Ice ahead 1-0 3:08 into the game. Jack Finley, who joined the Ice in a Dec. 6. trade from the Spokane Chiefs, had the lone assist on McClennon’s goal that quieted the crowd of 1,959 Tigers fans.
The rest of the first was a back and forth affair as both the Tigers and Ice traded chances. Winnipeg led the frame in shots with 9-7, as they carried their 1-0 lead after 20 minutes.
One of the newest Tabbies, defenseman Pasha Bocharov, said he thought they had a good start but just needed to stick with it.
“I think we had a pretty good start and we were right with them, I think we needed to stick to it,” Bocharov said. “… I think we had our chances and it’s just unfortunate we didn’t;t get the result we wanted.”
In a repeat fashion of the first period, McClennon knocked in a pass from Finley out front of Tigers net minder Beckett Langkow to put Winnipeg ahead 2-0 only 5:46 into the second period. Defenceman Nolan Orzeck had the third assist on McClennon’s marker.
Winnipeg didn’t wait long to grow their lead to 3-0. Alessandro Segafredo scored his fourth of the season on a pass from Cole Muir in the corner to the right of Langkow.
The Ice added to their lead six minutes later as centre Zach Benson scored his 12th of the season to put the ice ahead 4-0. Orzeck and Mikey Milne had the helpers on Benson’s goal as the 13:30 mark as the Ice had three goals in the second frame to take a 4-0 lead into the third.
When asked if the Tigers fell flat going against the WHL’s top team, Desjardins said he didn’t think so and said the Ice just made the plays they needed to.
“Good teams find ways to score on plays, like they made things happen out of nothing,” Desjardins said. “That’s why they are a top team.”
Not content with two assists, Finely jumped out 16 seconds into the third period and scored to give Winnipeg a 5-0 lead early in the frame. His 12th goal of the season was assisted by Orzeck and Omen Harmacy
In the last 10 minutes of the third period the Tigers had multiple high danger chances in-front of the net, including a snap shot from Andrew Basha off of a face off but they were turned aside by Alexander who stopped 27 0f the 28 shots he faced for his 15th win between the pipes for Winnipeg this season.
Orzeck, like Finely, wasn’t going to end the game with just assists, as he scored five hole on Langkow to give Winnipeg a 6-0 lead 13:01 into the third frame.
Tigers defenceman Reid Andresen took a pass from Tyler MacKenzie, who had two goals in the Tigers 3-2 win against Calgary last Thursday and ruined Alexander’s shutout with 2:22 left in the game. Brayden Boehm picked up the third assist on Andresen’s third of the season.
It would be too little too late as Winnipeg picked up their league leading 27th win of the year, beating the Tigers 6-1.
Langkow, in his first start for the Tigers since Dec. 17, stopped 21 of the 27 shots he faced. Desjardins said the 18-year-old just didn’t get any breaks in the loss.
“He got most of them and it’s too bad he didn’t get them but he’s a good goaltender and a different given night probably two or three wouldn’t have gone in but he battled and he didn’t get the breaks,” Desjardins said.
The Tigers have a quick turnaround as they hit the road to Calgary Sunday for their third match with the Hitmen in the last seven days. The Tabbies beat the Hitmen 3-2 in Medicine Hat last Thursday and lost a close 3-1 battle in Calgary last Tuesday. That game gets underway at 1 p.m..
Desjardins said they’ll have to play hard as the Hitmen will want redemption for the Tigers beating them last Thursday and said they’ll have to watch their changes against a fresher Calgary team. The Hitmen’s game Saturday was postponed due to the Lethbridge Hurricanes’ team activities being paused with 14 players on COVID-19 protocol.
“Both teams have played a lot of hockey, we’ve played a little extra in here, so we’re going to have to be smart with our changes,” Desjardins said.
