NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forwards Tomas Mrsic and Shane Smith wait for Andrew Basha to celebrate Mrsic's third period goal in a 10-4 win Sunday over the Spokane Chiefs at Co-op Place.
The Medicine Hat Tigers flexed their offensive muscles for a second contest in a row.
Medicine Hat rattled off 22 goals over their two home games this weekend with a 10-4 win Sunday at Co-op Place over the Spokane Chiefs. The Tigers came into the contest off a 12-1 drubbing Saturday over the Tri-City-City Americans. The only blemish on the three-game weekend for the Tigers was a 5-3 loss Friday at Red Deer to the Rebels.
Head coach Willie Desjardins liked his team’s comeback and their ability to hold on in the win.
“We got a late one at the end of the first which is a big goal for us off a great shot by (Tomas) Mrsic,” Desjardins said. “I liked Ethan McCallum in the first, I thought he played fine it just didn’t go his way. (Zach) Zahara came in and played good the rest of the way, made some big saves for us and gave us a little bit of confidence. We got the power play going so it was a good night to get the win, they’re a good hockey team.”
Medicine Hat’s special teams converted at a positive rate, with the power play going tow-for-two and the penalty kill working at 50 per cent.
Spokane got on the board first, with three unanswered goals in the opening frame.
Berkly Catton kicked off the frame with a power play shot 5:31 into the period. Just over 10 minutes later they struck again with a goal from Tyler Cheveldayoff.
Spokane finished their run with a goal from Brayden Crampton, coming with 1:33 left in the period.
The Tigers got on the board late in the first. Vasyl Spilka sent a cross-ice pass to Tomas Mrsic who one-timed his eighth of the season. Shane Smith had the second assist as Medicine Hat made it 3-1 with 41 seconds left in the period.
Medicine Hat carried the offence into the second period, rattling off six goals.
Gavin McKenna scored 57 seconds into the second period off a pass from behind the net from Mrsic.
The 16-year-old struck again on a rush. McKenna took a pass from Smith and skated in before wiring a shot past Cooper Michaluk to make it a 3-3 game. Reid Andresen had the second assist on McKenna’s 15th.
Spokane regained the lead at the 9:08 mark on a one-time blast from Chase Bertholet left alone in front. He beat Zach Zahara who took over for Ethan McCallum to start the period. McCallum made six saves in the first. Zahara finished his ninth with 24 saves for his 10th win on the season.“It was a pretty good 40 minutes for myself, I kept pucks well and made some good reads,” Zahara said. “My puck playing could have been better, but you can’t ask for everything. But it was a fun night from my part.”
The Tigers answered back later in the second with four straight goals, reigniting the crowd of 2,729.
Just 28 seconds after Spokane’s goal, Hunter St. Martin was hauled down on a break away and took advantage of the penalty shot, scoring his 13th.
A couple minutes later, Zahara made a side-to-side save to force a face-off. Following that draw, Medicine Hat took the luck the other way and Oasiz Wiesblatt found the back of the net with his 16th. McKenna and St. Martin had the helpers.
The Tigers went on a five-minute power play after Spilka was hit from behind and went head first into the boards behind the Medicine Hat net. Cheveldayoff threw the hit and received a five and a game misconduct for the hit.
Medicine Hat capitalized early on the power play. Andrew Basha was in front of the crease and took a pass from Smith in the corner, knocking it in to make it 6-4. Tyler MacKenzie had the second assist.
Basha scored again on another power play with 1:01 left in the frame. The 18-year-old drove in from the point and wired home his 18th of the season. Mckenna and Mrsic had the helpers as the Tigers led 7-4 after 40 minutes.
Basha’s big end to the second period came after missing the first half of the frame with a cut on his leg from being stepped on. He left the Medicine Hat bench before the first period ended, eventually returning to rattle off the two goals. He says the cut missed everything important in his leg and even though he performed well on the injury, would prefer to not miss the time.
“It sucks anytime you get a cut like that, I’m thankful it isn’t serious of course,” Basha said. “I could barely skate but found a way so it’s good.”
Medicine Hat kept the offence flowing in the third. Mrsic found the back of the net 45 seconds into the frame for his second of the game and 10th of the season. Smith and Basha had the helpers on the marker. Mrsic finished the night with two goals and two assists for a career high four-point night. He was happy to get the win and get rewarded as much as he did.
“It’s pretty special, obviously a pretty big win and then when you’r rewarded too it’s pretty nice,” Mrsic said. “Just a great win overall.”
Just under four minutes later, Marcus Pacheco recorded his first goal as a Tiger as he finished off a breakaway pass from Tyler Mackenzie. Bogdans Hodass had the second assist on Pacheco’s third of the season.
The final offence came 34 seconds later. Dru Krebs received a neutral-zone long pass from Kadon McCann and scored top shelf on a breakaway for his third of the season and the 10-4 lead 4:57 into the third period.
Medicine Hat was outshot 34-31 by the Chiefs but ultimately held on for the 10-4 win. Cooper Michaluk started the game for Spokane and made 16 saves before Dawson Cowan took over to start the third. He made five saves.
Eight Tigers had multi point nights in Saturday’s win, six picked up multiple points on Sunday. Smith’s four assists and McKenna/Mrsic’s two goal and two assist nights led the way offensively. Medicine Hat was also without Cayden Lindstrom for the seventh straight game.
The Tigers (25-12-2) are off until Friday when they head to Lethbridge to face the Hurricanes. They host their Highway 3 rivals on Saturday.
