NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Hunter St. Martin celebrates his first of tow goals in a 5-2 win Saturday night at Co-op Place over the Vancouver Giants.
The Medicine Hat Tigers flexed their offensive muscles Saturday night.
A trio of power play goals in a stretch of 1:31 in the third period propelled the Tigers to a third-straight win, beating the Vancouver Giants 5-2 at Co-op Place.
Head coach Willie Desjardins gave credit to both of the Tigers’ special teams.
“Obviously the power play was good, our discipline was good for us, just as big as our penalty kill,” Desjardins said. “Sometimes you look at the power play and Vancouver has a really good power play. On their first power play, they had about four or five chances and then Josh (Maser) made some adjustments and they got one chance the next two. That was a big, big differences. They had a chance to put it away and they didn’t get it put away, then we were able to come back.”
Medicine Hat finished four-for-five on the power play, Vancouver was one-for-four, the Tigers outshot the Giants 28-25. Medicine Hat came into the contest off a 6-1 win Friday over the Brandon Wheat Kings.
Neither team got on the board in the first period. The Giants outshot Medicine Hat 10-8 in the frame and both teams traded power play opportunities.
Vancouver cracked the scoreboard first, finding twine early in the frame.
Just 26 seconds into the middle stanza, Tyson Zimmer was in the circles to left of Switzer and one-timed a pass from Montreal Canadiens prospect Tyler Thorpe for the game’s first score.
Medicine Hat answered back a little over six minutes later on the man advantage.
A series of passes ended with Gavin McKenna sending the puck from the point to Andrew Basha on the wing and he passed it to Hunter St. Martin standing net-front for the tip-in. St. Martin’s fourth of the season evened the game up at 1-1.
Before the period came to a close, Vancouver’s lethal power play struck. Justin 35 second into the man advantage, Adam Titlbach scored a net-front tip in goal off a pass from the corner for the lead with 3:39 left in the frame.
The Giants outshot the Tigers 20-17 through 40 minutes.
Medicine Hat took over in the third period, making use of a pair of power plays to the enjoyment of the 3,711 in attendance.
The Tigers killed off an early penalty in the frame and found themselves with the advantage after defenceman Matt Paranych was cross checked in the face by Giants’ Marek Howell in the Vancouver end. There was no call on the original play but after review, Howell received a double minor. Medicine Hat went on a five-one-three advantage nine seconds later when Oasiz Wiesblatt was roughed up off a face off. St. Martin says they rallied from the moment.
“Matty P took that cross check and we didn’t get the call at first bu once we got the call, we ran with it,” St. Martin said. “The power showed up when we needed it to. That energy from the crowd, the team just rolled into it and then once we had the lead, our team bought into keeping that, getting pucks in and just playing Tigers hockey. I was really proud of our group tonight.
“We sit kept going, even though we’re down, there was some adversity and we weren’t playing our best the full 60 minutes. But we just stuck together and played our game.”
Medicine Hat exploded with the power play opportunities, scoring a trio of goals in 1:31 for a 4-2 advantage.
Wiesblatt fired a shot on net that bounced off the leg of a screening Mat Ward to tie the game up at 2-2 at 6:10. The goal was Ward’s first as a Tigers.
A mere 16 seconds later, with the five-one-three remaining Wiesblatt blasted a shot from the same point and scored on his own, making it a 3-2 lead with his third of the season.
The Giants pushed after Wiesblatt’s goal, with a shorthanded breakaway that was thwarted by Switzer, one of his 23 saves on the night. The 17-year-old expected pushback from Vancouver in the moment and he was happy with his performance, collecting his first win as a starter.
“Going into a game, it’s huge to have that process, I felt good in there tonight and the guys in front of me were unreal,” Switzer said. “Over this past while we’ve been getting better and it’s a good feeling.”
Medicine Hat allowed over a minute to pass with pressure in the Vancouver end before McKenna, calling for the puck, hammered a pass from Basha over the shoulder of Vancouver’s Burke Hood for the 4-2 score. Basha finished the night with four assists, Mckenna had a goal and three assists. The Calgary Flames prospect says the power play worked as it has in practise.
“That’s why practice, you have to execute in games,” Basha said. “This win was a statement to a lot of people in the league and that’s a huge comeback win for our group,” Basha said.
They rounded out the offence with 5:47 left in the game. McKenna carried the puck up the ice and sent a pass cross ice in the Vancouver end to St. Martin who wristed home his second of the night and fifth of the season for the 5-2 final score.
The Tigers were shorthanded Saturday, missing forwards Ryder Ritchie (day to day, upper body) and Hayden Harsnayi (month to month, lower body) and defenceman Bryce Pickford (suspension). Medicine Hat comes out of the weekend with a 4-4 record and a few days off before the host the Prince George Cougars on Wednesday at Co-op Place.
