McKenna propels Tigers over Pats with 4-point night

The Medicine Hat Tigers’ youngest player led the way Tuesday night.

Gavin McKenna tallied two goals and two assists to lead the Tigers over the Regina Pats 5-4. It marked their first win at the Brandt Centre this season.

McKenna’s four-point night puts him atop the WHL’s rookie scoring lead with 76 points, topping 17-year-old Prince George Cougars rookie Terik Parascak who has been atop the race since Sept. 30.

Regina opened the scoring eight seconds into the contest, with the Tigers rebounding over four minutes later.

Oasiz Wiesblatt scored his 23rd of the season to make it a 1-1 game, McKenna and Reid Andresen had the assists.

After the Pats scored again in the first, McKenna found twine on a power play at the 9:21 mark with Hunter St. Martin recording the assist.

Just over three minutes later, Dru Krebs scored on a backhander for his sixth of the season. Marcus Pacheco had the lone assist.

Regina scored in the second to make it a 3-3 game.

Medicine Hat re-gained a lead early in the third with Shane Smith knocking in a loose puck for his 26th. Tomas Mrsic and McKenna had the helpers.

After the Pats tied the game up for the third time, capitalizing on a power play, McKenna scored on their own man advantage for the 5-4 final score. Josh Van Mulligen and Mrsic had the helpers on McKenna’s 25th of the season.

Ethan McCallum made 24 saves in the win.

Medicine Hat was three-for-three on the power play, Regina was one-for-three.

The Tigers (32-17-3-1) host the Prince Albert Raiders on Friday at Co-op Place.