NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers goaltender Beckett Langkow reaches for a loose puck in the first period of a 2-0 loss against the Calgary Hitmen on Saturday at Co-op Place.
The Medicine Hat Tigers couldn’t bounce back from a slow start Saturday night.
The Tigers were shutout 2-0 by the Calgary Hitmen at Co-op Place in their second game in as many nights and first of a home-and-home series with Calgary. Medicine Hat came into the game off a 7-2 win in Edmonton against the Oil Kings.
“Calgary is good team, they played hard and they’re playing a lot better lately,” Head coach Willie Desjardins said. “I thought it was a little bit of a slow start, we had some really good chances. In the second their goaltender played well, so did ours. It was just a tight game, they got a power play goal and that was the difference.”
The two teams traded chances in the first period before Calgary thought they had scored via Riley Fiddler-Schultz. But after a successful offside challenge by the Tigers video coach Jayce Desjardins, the goal was negated and the game remained at a draw after 20 minutes. Calgary led the period in shots 14-6.
It took until the late stages of the second but Calgary finally cracked the empty scoreboard. Carter Yakemchuk found the back of the net with a screened shot on a power play. His 17th of the season was the lone marker of the period as Calgary took the 1-0 lead into the second intermission ahead in shots 23-14.
Medicine Hat forward Dallon Melin says the Tigers were in the game until the very end but says they need more in their next game against the Hitmen.
“I think we can push a little more, maybe get up on the forecheck and move our feet a little bit more but,” Melin said. “We’re in this game, we’re right there with them and they’re good team. That’s just kind of it, we’re right in there and we can beat them.”
The Tigers made a push in the third period but could not find the back of the net and Sean Tschigerl secured the game on an empty netter with 36 second left to insure the Hitmen’s 28th of the season. Brayden Peters stopped all 23 shots he faced for his third shutout of the season.
The Tigers (28-27-8-1) remain in seventh place of the Eastern conference playoff hunt and are back in action Sunday in Calgary as they wrap up their three-in-three weekend. Desjardins says there isn’t a lot of positives to take from Saturday’s game into Sunday’s, they just have to be better.
“It’s just got to be better tomorrow, every game now it’s over, it’s done,” Desjardins said.
Saturday night’s game marked the final WHL regular season game for linesman Darren Holeha, who worked in the league for 22 years. Both teams and both coaching staffs shook his hand after game.
“We wish Darren Holeha well, it’sgreat for him to have had the career he’s had,” Desjardins said. “We’ve been fortunate, he’s a classy man and the organization wishes them all the best.”
