NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers net minder Beckett Langkow stares down the incoming puck in the first priod of the Tigers 5-2 loss to the Red Deer Rebels Sunday night. Langkow came in halfway through the first and stopped 32 of the 34 shots he faced in 49:28 of relief action.
It was a tough night and an even tougher weekend for the Medicine Hat Tigers.
The Tigers fell 5-2 to the Red Deer Rebels Sunday evening to cap off their stretch of four games in five nights, in which they were outscored 20-11 and dropped three of the four contests.
Tigers head coach and general manager Willie Desjardins said he thought the Rebels capitalized on some shots and power plays early that set the Tabbies back early.
“I thought we battled back though, we played four in five, had some travel, it was a tough game for us,” Desjardins said. “But I thought our guys battled back in the second and got ourselves in it but we just couldn’t hold on in the third.
The Rebels had a strong first period with a three goal run in a stretch of a little over five minutes.
Hunter Mayo scored his first Western Hockey League goal 5:19 into the game to start Red Deer’s run. Liam Keeler added his 11th of the season three minutes later with Christoffer Sedoff notching his third of the campaign to cap off the three goal stretch.
Sedoff’s spelled the end of Garin Bjorklund’s night as he only stopped four of the seven shots he faced in his 23rd start of the season. Beckett Langkow took over the crease and put a halt to the Rebels run as he stopped 32 of the 34 shots he faced in 49:28 of relief action.
Langkow said it was nice to get in the game and give the Tigers a chance to make a comeback. He said he feels nervous when he’s told he’s coming off the bench but has ways to combat that and get ready to play.
“Just taking your time when you come off the bench and I have little routines that I always do when I am in the net,” Langkow said. “I just feel the biggest thing is you need to play, don’t need to think about it just go out there and play your game.”
A few minutes later after Brayden Boehm got called for kneeing, Oasiz Wiesblatt dropped the gloves with Carter Anderson as the Tigers first period frustrations came to the surface. It was a rematch for the duo as they both fought on April 17, 2021, a 5-2 Tigers win in Red Deer.
Wiesblatt said the fight stemmed from things not happening for the Tigers in the period and he wanted to do something to bring the team together.
Desjardins said it is good to see guys like Wiesblatt and Teague Patton, who fought in Saturday’s 6-3 loss to the Lethbridge Hurricanes, standing up for themselves.
“I thing one this is you don’t ever want to get pushed around, you want to have some fight back in you,” Desjardins said. “I thought Bocharov too was huge, it’s not that the room doesn’t care, its not that the room is quitting. They’ve been battling and I’m proud of how hard they’ve been battling. It’s one of those years where not a lot seems to be happening our way and it’s just the way it goes. But we have to keep working and turn it around.”
The rest of the first was uneventful as Red Deer outshot the Tigers 11-5 in the frame and took a 3-0 lead into the intermission.
Medicine Hat gained some life early in the second as they answered back to the Rebels offense.
Tigers captain Daniel Baker fired a shot on Rebels net minder Connor Unger that sat behind Ungar before being knocked in by Teague Patton to get Medicine Hat on the board. The Kelowna product’s goal came 5:34 into the second and was his sixth of the season with Baker and Andrew Basha picking up the assists.
Basha scored his first WHL goal in the Tigers loss Saturday night.
The Tigers clawed back within one only 34 seconds later when Brendan Lee fired one past Ungar off the face off to bring the score to 3-2. Pasha Bocharov and Wiesblatt picked up the helpers on Lee’s second as a Tiger and seventh of the season.
Medicine Hat continued their comeback efforts in the second but were turned aside by Unger multiple times. Including a wide open slap shot chance from d-man Bogdans Hodass that Unger stopped with his glove.
Red Deer outshot the Tigers in the frame 17-6 but had their lead cut by two with 20 left to play.
The Rebels re-took a two goal lead early in the third on Arshdeep Bains’ 17th of the season that came 4:04 into the final frame. That lead grew to 5-2 when Ben King scored his 24th of the season over halfway through the third to cap off the Rebels win.
Red Deer held onto the 5-2 lead and picked up their 23rd win of the year as they sit comfortably in second place of the central division with a record fo 23-10-2-1. Before Sunday’s loss, the Tigers had beat the Rebels in their two previous matchups.
Rebels head coach Steve Konowalchuk said they played a good game for 55 minutes but was happy with their structure throughout.
“They got the two goals there but I thought our guys were prepared to play early,” Konowalchuk said. “I thought our structure was close to where we need to be… I liked our start but I liked our adversity when Medicine Hat made a little push. Our guys kept their composure and got their game going back where it needed to be.”
With the loss, the Tigers fall to 7-24-3-1 on the season. Desjardins said it isn’t up to him to make sure guys don’t get frustrated but said it’s up to each player how they handle it going forward.
“You can get frustrated or you can get motivated, every guy has that chance when anything happens and we have to stay motivated, we get nothing out of being frustrated or intimated. We have to stay motivate,” Desjardins said. “That’s pretty simple and that’s up to each individual to make sure they do it.”
The Tigers are off until Friday when they hit the road for Saskatoon for a battle with the Blades. Lee, the former Blade, said they need to build off the rough weekend with consistency in practice.
“Just working hard, out working each other, pushing each other to be better and just get better every day, every week and every game, it’s just what we have to do,” Lee said.
Desjardins said they’ll take a little bit of a breather coming off their stretch of games and comeback fresh and ready for the two game road trip in Saskatchewan. He also said once they get Monday’s trade deadline out of the way they’ll know who they have so they can, “go hard.”
Heading into the weekend Desjardins said he liked his team and said he’s not looking to do a lot. After the trio of losses on the weekend he said his deadline plan hasn’t changed.
“We’ll just see what happens and do what we can to make our team better,” Desjardins said.
