Tigers lose to Red Deer in Danielson, Langkow’s return
By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on March 26, 2022.
Offence has been hard to come by for the Medicine Hat Tigers. The Tigers were shut out in their second straight contest, losing 3-0 Friday night against the Red Deer Rebels. Medicine Hat lost 2-0 to the Swift Current Broncos last Saturday in the Gas City. Friday night marked the return of forward Noah Danielson and goaltender Beckett Langkow to the lineup after both were out due to injury since Feb. 18 and Feb. 19, respectively. The Red Deer product, Danielson, suffered his lower body injury in a game against his brother Nate and the Brandon Wheat Kings. Langkow’s injury came from taking a puck awkwardly off his blocker hand in practice, which kept him on the shelf. The first period was filled with shots and chippiness between the two Central Division rivals, but no offence as Red Deer led the frame in shots 10-5. There was no love lost in their final matchup of the season as every whistle was followed with some shoving and chirping. Langkow showed no signs of rust in the contest, making 30 saves through the first 40 minutes, including multiple high-danger chances from the WHL’s leading scorers Arshdeep Bains and Ben King. The Tigers penalty kill was also put to the test in the first 40 minutes, with five trips to the sin bin. The Tigers and Langkow could not keep the Rebels off the score sheet forever, as Bains knocked in a rebound off of a face-off to notch the game’s first goal 14:05 into the second period. Carter Anderson and Ben King picked up the assists on Bains’ 35th goal of the season. The Rebels almost made it 2-0 minutes later when Kai Uchacz backhanded a puck up over Langkow but the puck was not ready to find the back of the net and rang off the crossbar and post. After two periods, the Rebels led in shots 31-11 and on the scoreboard 1-0. Red Deer continued their offensive prowl from the second when Jhett Larson re-directed a pass from Hunter Mayo in the corner into the net to put the Rebels ahead 2-0. Matteo Fabrizi wired a shot from the point past Langkow 5:46 later to put Red Deer ahead 3-0. Bains had the second assist to give him a league-leading 96 points on the season. Red Deer held on for the 3-0 win and picked up their 40th win of the year. Langkow made 40 saves in his first game action in 34 days. Across the ice, 17-year-old Chase Coward turned aside all 13 Tigers shots he faced in the win. The Tigers are back in action Saturday night when they host the Calgary Hitmen at Co-op Place. That game gets underway at 7 p.m. with GasKing giving away collector cups to the first 1,500 fans in attendance. 14-13
