NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers goaltender Jordan Switzer looks for the puck through a snow-shower for one of his 22 saves in a 5-1 win Saturday night at Co-op Place over the Regina Pats.
The Medicine Hat Tigers defended Co-op Place Saturday night.
The Tigers beat the Regina Pats 5-1, a bounce back effort from a 4-2 loss Friday at Red Deer to the Rebels.
Forward Mat Ward tallied a pair of goals on the night. The 20-year-old liked what he saw from the entire lineup in the win.
“From top to bottom, throughout our lineup, we had contributions from everyone,” Ward said. “You look at (Bryce) Pickford, he’s a warrior for us and he steps up in a big way.”
Pickford and Pats’ defenceman Corbin Vaughan dropped the gloves 6:45 into the contest, both earning a game misconduct for a called stage fight.
Before the fisticuffs, the Tigers opened the scoring in the first minute, bringing early excitement to the 3,634 in attendance.
Just 27 seconds into the game, Jonas Woo fired a shot on net and Andrew Basha knocked in the rebound kicked away by Ewan Huet. Mat Ward had the second assist on Basha’s fifth of three season.
A little over two minutes later, Medicine Hat struck again. Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll had the puck in the slot, drawing all the attention and passed to Ward in the slot who hammered home his third on the year. Basha had the secondary helper on the 2-0 marker.
Regina responded later in the frame. Jordan Switzer made the original save on a rush opportunity by the Pats but Connor Bear charged the rebound and knocked it in for his second on the year. Aleksey Chichkin and Kristian Lacelle had the hopers.
Both teams hit the iron in the frame but it remained 2-1 after 20 minutes.
Head coach Willie Desjardins liked his team’s effort in the win.
“Late night coming in from Red Deer, tough game it was huge we we’re able to play four lines tonight,” Desjardins said.”Carter Cunningham played real well, he stepped up pretty good. Brayden Ryan-MacKay was good too, lots of good things. (Jordan) Switzer was really good in net too, so it was a good performance for us.”
After allowing a goal in the first, Switzer held steady the rest of the way with a total of 22 saves in the win.
“The guys in front battled really hard tonight,” Switzer said. “We have injuries and lots of guys stepped up in the lineup and it’s a credit to them.”
The Tigers had the lone score in the second. With 7:32 left in the frame, Jack Kachkowksi had the puck along the blue line in the Pats’ end. He sent a pass cross-ice to Matt Paranych who one-timed his third of the season. Marcus Pacheco had the second assist.
Huet held the Tigers to the one goal in the period, making multiple five-alarm saves to keep his team within reach. Medicine Hat led in shots 24-13 after 40.
They found twine early in the third.
The puck lived behind the net, with Oasiz Wiesblatt and Gavin McKenna pressuring. McKenna had the puck and caught Huet going the other way, scoring on a backhand to the left of the netminder 38 seconds into the frame. Wiesblatt and Jonas Woo had the helpers on his sixth.
Medicine Hat found themselves in penalty trouble late. Regina pulled the goalie for 29 seconds of six-on-three advantage but were unable to capitalize, neither team scoring on five power play opportunities aside. Ward rounded out his night with a shorthanded, empty net goal for his fourth and the 5-1 final. Basha had the lone assist as the Tigers recorded win No. 7 on the young season.
Across from Switzer, Huet made 30 saves in the loss. Medicine Hat won the face-off battle, 41-28. They outshot the Pats 35-23.
Medicine Hat and Regina were both wearing commemorative purple jerseys in honour of Tigers Fight Cancer night. Both teams will don the jerseys again at Regina on Nov. 1. Medicine Hat’s jerseys are available by auction here, with bids closing Tuesday at 7 p.m.
The Tigers (7-6) are off until Wednesday when they head to Calgary to face the Hitmen, the first of four-straight road games.
