NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers rookie goaltender Jordan Switzer squares up to make a breakaway save on Edmonton Oil Kings forward Andrej Tomasec in the third period of a 7-4 win Friday night at Co-op Place.
For the second time this season the Medicine Hat Tigers pulled off a dramatic comeback at Co-op Place over the Edmonton Oil Kings.
The Tigers scored six unanswered goals in 40 minutes for a 7-4 win Friday night. They scored seven unanswered goals against the Oil Kings in a 7-4 win on Oct. 27.
Assistant coach Josh Maser says they didn’t start well enough and was happy to see they found their game in the last 40 minutes.
” They knew we weren’t good enough, I don’t think we were ready to start on time,” Maser said. I hope we learn something from it and think we did. They’re a good team, you can’t take them lightly, they’ve got some good players. We can’t spot them a lead. It was good to see we were able to claw our way back into the game and take it over but hopefully we learned something from it.”
The Oil Kings were in control in the first period.
Andrej Tomasec got the Oil Kings on the board 2:45 into the game.
Medicine Hat answered back just under six minutes later with a seeing-eye blast from the point. Matt Paranych and Kadon McCann had the helpers.
Edmonton rattled off three straight for a 4-1 lead after 20 minutes.
Blake Fiddler scored at the 11:20 mark and Marc Lajoie found twine less than a minute later to end Zach Zahara’s night. He had three saves on six shots.
Jordan Switzer took over between the pipes and made some saves. The Oil Kings got one more before the period ended, with Adam Jecho jamming in a puck at 14:29.
The Tigers answered back in the second with four unanswered goals.
A little over four minutes into the frame, Oasiz Wiesblatt carried the puck into the Edmonton end on a rush and sent a pass to Hodass who scored his second of the game and sixth of the season. Gavin McKenna had the second assist.
Under a minute later, Andrew Basha scored his 26th to make it a 4-3 game. Marcus Pacheco and Shane Smith had the assists.
They tied it up at the 9:12 mark on a one-time blast from Tomas Mrsic on a power play that electrified the crowd of 2,937. The goal was originally waved off due to goaltender interference but was ruled a good goal after referee discussion. McKenna had the lone assist.
The Tigers grabbed the lead 1:29 later off a face off. The puck laid on front of Kolby Hay and Tyler MacKenzie jammed in the puck for the 5-4 advantage. McKenna and Wiesblatt had the helpers on MacKenzie’s 15th of the season and first in 21 games. The captain says it felt good to shake the monkey off his back but says he was more happy with the result.
“It’s been a while I know but not really thinking about it too much,” MacKenzie sad. “The whole time I just played my game, I knew at some point it was going to come. So we’re not focusing on the goals, more of the structure side of the game but it’s nice to get that one.”
They added to their tally in the third. Mrsic scored 9:08 on a wrist shot that was hard enough it went in and out of the net at a speed that required a review to deem it a good goal. Hodass had the lone assist on Mrsic’s second of the night and 19th on the year. In a mid-period power play, Mrsic sent a pass from the point to Wiesblatt along the boards who fired it towards Smith at the side of the net who tapped in his 28th on the year.
Three different Tigers collected three point nights, with both Hodass and Mrsic notching two goals and an assist and McKenna tallying three helpers.
Medicine Hat held on for the 7-4 win and secured the game puck for Switzer, who made 24 saves in his WHL debut to pick up his first career WHL win. Switzer says he didn’t see his ninth going like this but was all smiles after the win.
“Coming to the rink today, I didn’t think I was going to play but I tried to capitalize on the opportunity,” Switzer said. “You get thrown in and maybe not the optimal position, but trying to make the most of it. It was fun night.”
The Tigers (34-18-5-2) host the Calgary Hitmen on Sunday for a 4 p.m. contest.
