Tigers win a game of firsts Friday night

By James Tubb on October 7, 2022.

The Medicine Hat Tigers opened up their U.S. road trip in a big way Friday night.

The Tigers rolled into Everett and handed the Silvertips their first loss of the season with a 6-3 win in the first contest of their five game U.S. road trip. Friday marked the first time the Tigers have played in the United States since the 2018-29 season.

Medicine Hat got on the board first with two goals within one another halfway through the first frame. Cayden Lindstrom scored his first Western Hockey League goal on a pass from Alex Drover 8:44 into the frame. Dallon Melin had the second assist.

Only a 1:08 later Shane Smith potted his first Western Hockey League goal wth Reid Andresen picking up the lone assist. The Tigers carried the 2-0 lead into the first intermission.

Before all of the Silvertips faithful could get back into their seats to start the second period the Tigers struck again. Drover finished off a play from Melin and Lindstrom and found the back of the net for his first Western Hockey League goal after joining the Tabbies from the QMJHL. The Port-Aux Basques product’s goal chased Everett Starter Braden Holt from the game after allowing three goals on 12 shots. Rookie net minder Tim Metzger took over between the pipes and made eight saves in the loss.

The Tigers led 3-0 1:52 into the second frame before Everett answered back. Austin Roest and Jackson Berezowski scored within three minutes of each other to cut Medicine Hat’s lead to 3-2. The game was destined to hit the intermission before Andrew Basha snuck a shot under Metzger’s arm for a power play goal to reinforce a two goal lead. Oasiz Wiesblatt and Andresen had the helpers on Basha’s third goal of the year, which extends his and Wiesblatt’s point streaks to four games. The duo has combined for 13 points in the Tigers first four games.

The physicality was ramped up in the third period as tensions boiled over between the Tigers and Silvertips. After a scrum, the referees handed out 34 combined penalty minutes between the two clubs, including a double minor and a misconduct to Tigers defenceman Pasha Bocharov, ending his night early.

Everett, who gained a power play after the scrum, struck first in the third frame with Roest’s second of the game 9:07 into the period.

The rest of the frame was a back and forth affair as the two clubs traded chances. The Tigers sealed their lead with a late power play one-timer goal from Brendan Lee with 2:56 left in the game. The goal comes in a special contest for Lee as he returned to Everett for the first time since he donned the Silvertips green from 2019-21. Bogdans Hodass and Oren Shtrom had the assists on lee’s third goal of the season.

Tigers forward Brayden Boehm out-skated the Everett defencemen to knock in an empty net goal to seal the Tigers 6-3 victory Friday night. Goaltender Beckett Langkow made 34 saves as the Tigers, who had 23 shots, were out shot for the first time this season.

The Tigers (2-2) continue their U.S. road trip Saturday when they head to Portland to take on the Winterhawks. That game gets underway at 7 p.m. MST.