Tigers fall 5-2 in Game 2 Saturday
By James Tubb on April 1, 2023.
The Medicine Hat Tigers could not complete the comeback Saturday night. The Tigers lost 5-2 in Winnipeg against the Ice to fall 2-0 in their first round WHL playoff series. Medicine Hat lost the series opener 5-3 on Friday. For the second game in a row the Ice opened the scoring. Briley Wood had the lone goal of the first period, finding the back of the net 12:44 into the frame. Conor Geekie and Vladislav Shilo had the helpers. Winnipeg added to their lead in the second period with an early goal from Zack Ostapchuk. Evan Friesen and Wyatt Wilson had the assists on Ostapchuk’s goal coming 1:33 into the frame. Medicine Hat answered back less than five minutes later. Andrew Basha knocked in a loose puck behind Winnipeg goaltender Daniel Hauser to get the Tigers on the board. Cayden Lindstrom and Rhett Parsons had the assists on Basha’s third of the series. Mid way through the second period the Tigers fell behind by two on a lengthy penalty kill. Defenceman Rhett Parsons was sent to the locker room early with a five minute major and a game misconduct for checking from behind at the 12:09 mark. Just 2:50 into that kill, Brendan Lee was called for a trip, giving Winnipeg the two-man advantage. Connor McClennon finished off a passing play from Matthew Savoie for the eventual game winer and his first goal of the series. Ben Zloty had the other helper. The Tigers struck again in the third period with a rebound goal from Dallon Melin on a Medicine Hat power play to bring themselves within one. Tomas Mrsic and Reid Andresen had the helpers on Melin’s first career WHL post season goal. Winnipeg added another power play goal later in the third, finishing the night 2-for-5 on the man advantage, Medicine Hat went 1-for-4. McClennon scored his second of the game, Ostapchuk and Savoie had the assists. Savoie scored his fourth of the series late in the game, scoring on the empty net with 27 seconds left in the game to give Winnipeg their final 5-2 lead. Beckett Langkow was in net for the Tigers, the shots taken in the game were not reported on the league website. The regular season champion Ice had 1,621 fans in attendance Saturday, an increase from the 1,247 that attended Game 1. The series returns to Medicine Hat for Games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday at Co-op Place. Both games get underway at 7 p.m. 12-11
