NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers defenceman Nate Corbet embraces the crowd after his second period fight in a 12-1 win Saturday at Co-op Place over the Tri-City Americans.
The Medicine Hat Tigers put on a show Saturday night at Co-op Place.
The Tigers poured on 12 goals, had two fights and kept the crowd of 3,309 on their feet all night en route to a 12-1 win over the Tri-City Americans.
Saturday marked the most goals in a game for Medicine Hat since a 12-5 victory over the Kamloops Blazers on Oct. 12, 2009. It was also the first time a team in the WHL has scored 12 goals since the Vancouver Giants beat Tri-City 12-1 on Feb. 4, 2020.
A statement win for the Tigers coming off a 5-3 road loss Friday to the Red Deer Rebels. Forward Gavin McKenna, who had a career high five assists in the win, says the win illustrates what their group can do.
“It just shows the team we have and it sets a statement around the league,” McKenna said. “We’re not loading up like everyone else and we win like this. It sent a big statement.”
Medicine Hat was missing their leading scorer Cayden Lindstrom Saturday night as the forward was scratched for the sixth straight game with an upper body injury. Associate coach Joe Frazer described the bloated win as a team effort.
“It was a good first period, I thought we had a good start then we kind of let him back in,” Frazer said. “The shots were 7-0 and then it ended up 9-8 after the first. Zach (Zahara) made a couple of really saves in the first, especially on the kill that one across the across the crash there made a huge save coming across. But then in the second we got our killer speed going and we forced them to take some penalties and fortunately our power play was going tonight.”
The Tigers went three-for-five on the power play and killed off five of their six penalties.
Medicine Hat got on the board early in the first.
Hunter St. Martin wired home a shot on a power play for the 1-0 lead 6:33 into the contest. Tyler MacKenzie and Hayden Harsanyi had the assists on St. Martin’s first of the night.
Rhett Parsons dropped the gloves for a fight in the first period, giving him the famous Gordie Howe hat trick with his goal and assist later in the game. Nate Corbet fought in the second period, with both players efforts and willingness to defend teammates standing out to Frazer.
“Parsons stepping up was big momentum changer it and then when they had that penalty and Corbet stepped up and we scored right away in the power play, that was a key moment in the game ,” Frazer said. “It was three nothing at the time and that gave us a ton of momentum.”
That was the lone goal of the first period and was heavily supplemented with six goals in the second period.
Medicine Hat struck 37 seconds into the middle frame with St. Martin’s second. The 18-year-old redirected a pass from Oasiz Wiesblatt for his 11th on the year. McKenna had the second assist.
The offence kept rolling 7:36 later, with Tomas Mrsic scoring top shelf just as a power play expired to make it 3-0. McKenna and Shane Smith had the helpers on his first of the night. Over two minutes later Mrsic struck again, scoring on a power play for his eighth of the season. Basha and McKenna recorded the helpers on that one.
Medicine Hat capitalized on a power play for the second time in the frame. Wiesblatt wired a shot top shelf from the circles in the Tri-City end for his 15th. Basha and McKenna had the assists.
The offence continued, keeping the crowd at a buzz. The Tigers had a mini rush opportunity with the puck finding its way to Parsons who potted his fourth of the season. Harsanyi and MacKenzie head the assists.
As time wound down on the busy period, the puck ricocheted in front of Kyle Kelsey in the Americans net and Vasyl Spilka knocked it into the net with nine seconds left in the frame for his third.
Tri-City changed goalies ahead of the third period, with 16-year-old Armaan Kaila taking over for Kelsey who made 21 saves on the night. Kaila had 10 stops in his 20 minutes of action.
The Tigers rattled off five goals in the first 10:01 of action in the final frame. Harsanyi scored his first of the night 40 seconds into the period, Marcus Pacheco and Josh Van Mulligen had the assists. The helper is Pacheco’s first point as a Tiger since being acquired by trade on Dec. 31.
Spilka struck for his second of the game just under two minutes later, with Bogdans Hodass and Matt Paranych recording assists. Less than a minute later, St. Martin recorded the hat trick with a tap-in goal off a pass from Wiesblatt and McKenna. The 18-year-old says his first career WHL hat trick feels good and credited his line mates.
“I’m just standing there on the third goal and it gets put on my tap,” St. Martin said. “Then on that second one, the whole group on the ice, the five guys touched it in a matter of three seconds or so.”
Corbet got on the scoreboard, knocking in a loose puck for his second of the season. Parsons and Kadon McCann had the helpers.
Just over the 10-minute mark, Harsanyi recorded his second of the night and seventh of the season on a shorthanded breakaway.
The Americans got on the board 2:06 later, with Jake Sloan knocking in a loose puck on a power play. Besides that marker, Zach Zahara made 20 saves for the victory. Medicine Hat outshot Tri-City 43-21.
Eight different Tigers finished the night with multi-point efforts, with McKenna’s five assists, Harsanyi’s two goals and two assists and St. Martin’s hat trick leading the way.
There is an internal strive for defending Saturday night’s at Co-op Place and it’s a task Harsanyi says they love to achieve.
“There’s nothing better, we have to make the fans happy and keep producing on Saturday nights, keep everyone coming out for it.”
The Tigers (24-12-2) are back in action Sunday when they host the Spokane Chiefs for a 4 p.m. contest. After celebrating the blowout for 20 minutes, Frazer says they’ll have to be their best if they want to beat Spokane.
“They are a speed and skill team just like us, their top lines is as good as it gets with (Berkly) Catton and (Connor) Roulette and their power play is deadly,” Frazer said. “We have to make sure we’re staying on the box, staying disciplined and it’s going to be a fun one. Both teams are are quick and have some skill so it’ll be whoever can manage the puck and set their game right away.”
