NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Brendan Lee celebrates his first of three goals in a 8-2 win over the Edmonton Oil Kings on Wednesday at Co-op Place.
The Medicine Hat Tigers kept their pace in the Western Hockey League playoff race with a win Wednesday.
The Tigers beat the Oil Kings 8-2 at Co-op Place to remain in eighth place of the Eastern conference. They trail the Calgary Hitmen for seventh place by one point, with each team having two games lefts.
Head coach Willie Desjardins says the Tigers played hard in the win and excelled with an early jump.
“We worked really hard,” Desjardins said. “We got up early in the second maybe backed off a little bit in the middle of the second and came back good in the third, it was a good team effort. We had lots of lines going, our defence played well and Beckett was good in net. It was just a really good team effort.”
The two teams traded chances early in the first but it was the Tigers who came away from the first frame with a 2-0 lead. Gavin McKenna knocked in a pass from Tyler MacKenzie who was behind the Edmonton net at the 13:38 mark to open the scoring.
McKenna ended his night with a goal and two assists, giving him three goals and 15 points in 14 WHL games.
“It’s good being a part of these last few games here and they’re all huge going into this playoff push,” McKenna said. “This win is a good confidence builder for sure and then come Friday, Saturday they’re going to be two huge games.”
Just over two minutes later, Brendan Lee, who assisted on McKenna’s third goal of the season, found the back of the net himself on a loose puck in the slot. Pasha Bocharov assisted on the first of three for Lee on the night.
The Tigers carried the offence into the second period, scoring three goals in the first nine minutes of the frame. Andrew Basha redirected a shot from Josh Van Mulligen for his 20th goal of the year and the eventual game winner. Just over three minutes later (7:49), Hunter St. Martin broke into the Edmonton end while shorthanded and collided then scored on Oil Kings net minder Kolby Hay for his eighth on the year.
Less than a minute later Oasiz Wiesblatt scorned for his 25th of the season, chasing Hay from the game. Bocharov and Rhett Parsons had the assists on Weisblatt’s marker.
Edmonton got themselves on the scoreboard with two goals in less than two minutes. Mason Finley and Cole Miller each found the back of the net for the Oil Kings only offence of the game.
Medicine Hat poured it on in the third period with Lee scoring his second of the contest 4:43 into the period. McKenna notched an assist on the marker. Just 26 seconds later Dallon Melin had the final touch on a puck battle in the Edmonton crease for his 15th goal of the season. Bogdans Hodass and Cayden Lindstrom had the helpers.
Lee captured the hat trick with his 32nd goal of the season on a give-and-go play with McKenna at 7:30, marking his first trio of goals in the WHL.
” I’ve come close a couple of times in my career and it feels good to finally get one,” Lee said about his hat trick.
Tigers net minder Beckett Langkow registered his 24th win on the season, with 13 saves on the night. Across the ice from him, Hay had 15 saves before Logan Cunningham took over early in the second period and made 17 saves of his own.
“I thought we came out came out flying in the first, scored a bunch of goals and then in the second there was a couple of them I want to have back,” Langkow said. “The guys just really battled, blew it away from them in the this and it’s two points that we need.”
The Tigers (29-28-8-1) are off Thursday before they hit the road for Swift Current to begin a home-and-home series with the Broncos. They’ll host Swift Current on Saturday for the final game of the regular season. Lee says he enjoys getting to play these important games and is looking forward to the season defining weekend.
“It’s a really good feeling, we’re finally playing for something meaningful,” Lee said. ” I’m really grateful for the guys that we have this opportunity to play for something here.”
