NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Kadon McCann celebrates his second goal in the first period of a 7-4 win Wednesday at Co-op Place over the Prince Albert Raiders.
The Medicine Hat Tigers flexed some new muscles Wednesday night.
With a new-look lineup after a Monday blockbuster trade, the Tigers beat the visiting Prince Albert Raiders 7-4 at Co-op Place.
Wednesday night marked the first game for the Tigers since acquiring Nashville Predators defence prospect Tanner Molendyk and forward Misha Volotovskii from the Saskatoon Blades on Monday.
Both 19-year-old former Blades had an assist in the win.
“I was a little rusty, haven’t played since the World Juniors, so I kind of knew it was coming,” Molendyk said. “Misha was unbelievable, he’s so reliable and the way he moves pucks and gets up ice. For myself, I was okay. I mean, I got a lot better, but it’s nice to get that win.”
Associate coach Joe Frazer liked the win for the group.
“Those are two, huge points,” Frazer said. “Prince Albert is one of the hottest teams in the league for the last month or two, playing really well. I liked a lot of our game tonight. At times when we got on the forecheck, stayed relentless, we were really good. There was times we got away from it and we gave up a few out numbered rushes but (Jordan) Switzer played great, couple huge saves, especially in the second. Just a great two points.
Starter Jordan Switzer finished his night with 20 saves, recording his 15th win of the season.
Wednesday night was also the return of former Tiger Tomas Mrsic, playing his first game at Co-op Place since being traded to Prince Albert in August. The Tigers scored four unanswered goals to open the scoring in the first period.
They struck pay dirt 4:42 into the game, with a tic-tac-toe rush.
Liam Ruck carried the puck into the Prince Albert end, knocking a pass to Mat Ward who sent the puck to Hunter St. Martin for his team-leading 25th goal of the season.
A little under six minutes later, Jonas Woo found twine.
The 18-year-old blue liner fired a wrist shot from the circles towards the end of a Tiger’s power play to make it a 2-0 lead at 10:19. Liam and Markus Ruck each had an assist on Woo’s sixth.
Just 10 seconds later, Kadon McCann was wide open on the back door and scored his first of the game. Misha Volotovskii and Ethan Neutens had the assists, giving Volotovskii his first point as a Tiger.
The Tigers continued the early offensive pressure, with McCann scoring his fifth of the season with a wrist shot off a rush at 12:46.
“It’s nice to always be on the board,” McCann said. “It hasn’t been coming lately, so it’s nice to nice to finally get on the board. Bu I need to be a little better defensively. We gave up quite a bit of chances, so that’s the biggest thing for me.”
Prince Albert showed life late in the period, with Justice Christensen scoring with 30 seconds left in the period. Lukas Dragecevic and Riley Kovacevic had the assists on Christensen’s 10th, the assist is Kovacevic’s first point as a Raider since being acquired from the Moose Jaw Warriors on Tuesday.
The Tigers opened the scoring in the second period with a pair of goals.
A mere 31 seconds into the period, Bryce Pickford scored on a two-on-two rush to extend his WHL defensemen scoring lead to 17. Ward had the lone assist.
They made it 6-1 with a power play goal from Gavin McKenna at 13:08. The 17-year-old scored five-hole on Max Hildebrand on the man advantage, extending his pre World Junior point streak to 15 games. Oasiz Wiesblatt and Tanner Molendyk had the assists, the latter’s first point in the orange and black.
McKenna’s 20th of the season chased Raider starter Hildebrand from the game, he finished with 18 saves on 24 shots. Dimitri Fortin took over in net, finishing with 19 saves.
After 33 minutes of sustained pressure from the Tigers, Prince Albert showed life to end the second period.
They scored with 1:45 left in the frame on a cross crease pass from Daxon Rudolph to Riley Boychuk who was left all alone to the right of starter Jordan Switzer.
Exactly a minute after Boychuk’s fifth of the season found the back of the net, the Raiders struck again on a curveball-like shot. Dragecevic roped a shot from the point that trickled top shelf on Switzer for the blue liner’s eighth of the season.
Medicine Hat led the game in shots 32-16 after 40 minutes. Frazer didn’t like how they ended the second period and he says they have to remove those stretches from their game.
” Once we got the 6-1 lead, we got away from it, we let them climb back in,” Frazer said. “But I really liked how in the third we got it back. We got back to to the work ethic, our final period was pretty good.”
Prince Albert opened the scoring in the third with a one-time blast.
Christensen came off the bench during sustained pressure in the Tigers’ end and blasted a pass into the net for his second of the night. Boychuk had the lone assist as Prince Albert made it a 6-4 game at 10:02.
That was as close as they got as the Tigers iced the win with the net empty. Wiesblatt sent the puck up ice to McKenna who passed on the open cage, setting Ryder Ritchie up for his 11th goal of the season, scoring at 18:22.
The Tigers outshot Prince Albert 44-24, converting 2-3 on the power play. Prince Albert won the face-off battle 29-25, finishing 0-3 on the power play.
With the win, the Tigers (23-15-2) work into a three-way tie for first place in the Eastern conference, sharing the top spot with the Blades and Calgary Hitmen. Medicine Hat will host the Red Deer Rebels on Friday before heading to Edmonton on Saturday to face the Oil Kings. The next win for the Tigers will be the 500th career win for head coach Willie Desjardins.
