NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers goaltender Evan May keeps his eye on the incoming puck in the first period of their 2-1 loss to the Saskatoon Blades at Co-op Place on Friday night.
A rotating line to the penalty box cost the Medicine Hat Tigers Friday night.
The Tigers had seven penalties and allowed Saskatoon to score two power play goals, leading to a 2-1 loss at Co-op Place for Medicine Hat.
The Tigers skated with the Blades all night, with the game tied 0-0 for 49:52 before Saskatoon broke the draw. Tigers Head coach Willie Desjardins says close losses like Friday’s aren’t any easier to swallow and he made point of their penalty troubles.
“It’s not like guys are doing stupid things as far as a dumb retaliation penalty. They’re just careless with their sticks and they have to be better,” Desjardins said.
Despite all of the chances for Saskatoon it was Tigers net minder Evan May, who was making his orange and black debut, who kept his team in the game with 28 saves on the night. Desdardins says he played how they needed him to.
“It was really good to see, we needed to come in with a performance like that and he was excellent throughout,” Desjardins said. “It’s too bad we couldn’t get a win for him.”
May was acquired by the Tigers from the Everett Silvertips on Oct. 18. The 18-year-old goaltender humbly pumped up his teammates after the game and feels great after the game.
“The boys played really good in front of me, they’re good squad over there, so I think I think we were really, we’re really close,” May said. “It builds a lot of confidence. I think next game that I start, I’ll be just where I left off and I think the boys will have that hunger to get that win.”
The Nanaimo, B.C. product got the start Friday night after net minder Beckett Langkow was scratched due to illness, marking the first time this season the Tigers weren’t backstopped by the 19-year-old.
May says the Tigers fans who were cheering him on helped him make the big saves and pushed his teammates throughout the game.
Both the Tigers and Blades traded chances throughout as the Blades narrowly edged out the home team in the shot category, leading 31-29. Medicine Hat appeared to open the scoring early in the second on a shot from defenceman Bogdans Hodass before a lengthy review determined the play was offside prior to the goal.
Saskatoon finally cracked the stalemate 9:52 into the third with a power play goal from Tyler Parr. In a case of deja vu, the Blades and Parr scored again on the power play, jumping ahead 2-0 with a marker 4:08 after their first. Desjardins says Parr’s first goal, which came with six seconds left on their penalty kill, was the difference. He saw a lot of good things to take from the contest for the Tigers.
“We take that that was a top team in the country and we were right with them all the way. We had lots of good things happening with our team–those are just hard games to win,”Desjardins said. “Saskatoon plays well defensively, they don’t give you an awful lot of chances and that’s a big step for our club. We’re learning as we go and that was that was a good game for us.”
The Tigers got on the board with six seconds left in the contest when Tyler MacKenzie knocked in a loose puck in a scrum in front of Blades net minder Austin Elliott. Reid Andresen and Brendan Lee had the assists on MacKenzie’s fifth of the year. The 18-year-old forward credited his teammates for the goal.
“I always worry about the d-zone first, I think offence comes and I think I executed that plan tonight,” MacKenzie said. “It’s just good to get those ones, play with more a lot more confident but it stems from hard work. Credit to the guys on the ice, they helped out with that goal.”
Elliott made 28 saves between the pipes for the Blades as the win Friday pushes their record to 10-2, putting them in third of the Eastern conference. The Tigers (4-6-1) sit in ninth place in the conference and fourth in their division after Friday’s game. They don’t have long to dwell on the loss, as the Tigers host the Victoria Royals on Saturday for a 7 p.m. contest.
That game marks the first Western conference opponent at Co-op Place since the 2019-20 season and the return of former Tigers forward Teague Patton. MacKenzie said it will be an exciting game but they have a job to do first.
“We’re playing Teaguer again but it’s all business coming in for us,” MacKenzie said. After dropping the game tonight, we want to come in tomorrow. But it’s a cool experience, being in the league three years and it’s my first time playing a B.C. team, so that’ll be fun.”
