NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers defenceman Bogdans Hodass checks Regina Pats forward Connor Bedard in the first period of a 5-1 Tigers win Sunday afternoon at Co-op Place.
Connor Bedard may have been the talk of the town but it was the Medicine Hat Tigers who put on a show Sunday afternoon.
The Tigers scored five unanswered goals to beat the Regina Pats 5-1 in front of a sold-out crowd of 6,178 at Co-op Place, the largest crowd in Tigers history. Medicine Hat came into the contest on the heels of a 4-2 win Saturday at home against the Lethbridge Hurricanes. They’ve won three in a row and have picked up 14 of a possible 16 points in their last eight games.
Head coach Willie Desjardins says it was good to get the win in front of the sold-out arena.
“We started a little bit slow again, guys were nervous playing in front of all those fans,” Desjardins said. ‘That game was such a great atmosphere, it was so great to see all the fans out and the boys certainly appreciate it.
“It was nice, we found a way, it was a big goal from (Rhett) Parsons and (Dallon) Melin had a big goal on the penalty shot and Beckett (Langkow) played great in net.”
Desjardins was excited to see the fans and have his players experience that atmosphere.
“It was a great night and Bedard’s such a great player, he’s so amazing,” Desjardins said. “So it was a good night, and for us, we’ve been playing a little bit better and it’s good for us to do that, the guys are excited when we get some wins, so it was a good night for us.”
Regina opened the scoring 1:13 into the game with Connor Bedard’s 45th goal of the year. He knocked in a pass from Borja Valis for the opening marker. Stanislav Svozil had the second assist.
That was the only goal Beckett Langkow allowed, stopping 30 saves for his 18th win on the season. The Vegreville product says he was a little nervous heading into the start but quickly adjusted to the energy once his team got on the board.
The Tigers answered back a little over three minutes after Bedard’s goal when Pasha Bocharov fired home his 11th goal of the year. Oasiz Wiesblatt had the lone assist.
“When Pasha scored that first one there, that was huge,” Langkow said. “That was the loudest I’ve heard this building, and same with everyone in there, it was they loudest they had heard it. That was huge and I think we just got rolling from then on.”
Medicine Hat jumped ahead 2-1 with 5:16 left in the period with a long-distance goal from Kurtis Smythe. The defenceman fired a shot from the blue line that found its way through Drew Sim for his second on the year. Cayden Lindstrom and Melin had the helpers.
The Tigers increased their lead in the second period.
Parsons took a pass from Gavin McKenna in the neutral zone and skated across the Regina blue line before firing a shot top shelf past Sim. Reid Andresen had the second assist on Parsons’ third of the year, as Medicine Hat led Regina 21-19 in shots through 40 minutes.
In the final 20 minutes, the Tigers didn’t allow Regina to gain any momentum. After being hooked up on a breakaway, Melin deked an outstretched Sim for a shorthanded penalty-shot goal at 7:31 for his 13th of the year and the ninth shorthanded goal team wise for Medicine Hat.
As soon as the penalty shot was called, Melin headed to Andrew Basha on the bench to talk strategy and says they had the same game plan.
“I knew right away I was going to ask him and he said look to show your backhand, look to go forehand,” Melin said. “The puck rolled on me and I was doing that and I was looking to shoot the whole way. I saw the goalie was cheating so last second I just went to my backhand quick and just tucked it in.”
With 1:54 left in the game, Wiesblatt scored his 20th of the season by knocking in a loose puck, marking his third tally of the weekend to seal the deal for the Tigers in a 5-1 win. McKenna and Dru Krebs had the helpers on the final goal.
McKenna finished the night with two assists and had his chances for his first WHL goal but couldn’t find the back of the net. He says he’s just happy they won.
“Obviously, in a game like this where the points are critical it was good that I could help chip in,” McKenna said. “Pars had that crazy shot there and then Oasis just battling hard in front of the net, it was good, I felt really good.”
Across the ice from Langkow, Sim turned aside 27 Tigers shots.
With the win the Tigers are back to .500 with a 21-21-7-1 record and find themselves in the eighth and final spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race. Their next action is Friday when they head to Lethbridge before hosting the Hurricanes on Saturday for a home-and-home series.
See Tuesday and Wednesday’s Medicine Hat News for more coverage of Sunday’s sold-out game.
