NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Ryder Ritchie is greeted by forward Liam Ruck and defenceman Tanner Molendyk after scoring a power play goal 1:38 into the third period of a 5-1 win over the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Monday at Co-op Place.
The Medicine Hat Tigers put on a show for Family Day at Co-op Place.
They scored five-straight goals to beat the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes 5-1, recording a fourth win in a row for the Tigers. The win also makes Medicine Hat the first Eastern conference team to clinch a playoff spot.
“That’s a big game for us,” Head coach Willie Desjardins said. “They’re missing lots of guys, we’re missing lots of guys, they’ve won lots of games and they have found ways to win games. So we have a lot of respect for them, they’re well coached. So it was big for us to get a win.”
Lethbridge was missing four top-six forwards in Logan Warmold, Jordan Gustafson, Leo Braillard and Miguel Marques. The Tigers remain without forward Andrew Basha and defencemen Bryce Pickford and Jonas Woo who did not return after a second-period fight in Saturday’s 1-0 win over the Regina Pats.
Tigers were led by Ryder Ritchie in the win, notching a goal and three assists for his first four-point night in the WHL, also suiting up in his 150th game. The 18-year-old Minnesota Wild prospect wasn’t the biggest fan of the 2 p.m. puck drop, missing his pre-game nap. Despite the offensive night, the pre-game naps are staying Ritchie says.
“It’s not the easiest (start time), to get out of out of routine, a little bit but we got the win tonight and it was good game,” Ritchie said. “It builds confidence. To see one go in and my line was scoring too, so it’s props to them. But it definitely feels good to build some confidence.”
The Tigers opened the scoring with a pair of first-period goal.
Just 1:55 into the game, Misha Volotovskii picked up the puck off a turnover in the Lethbridge end and wired home his first of the night. His goal also triggered the Tigers’ new goal song, ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)’ by Simple Minds.
“It’s super sick, especially if the crowd really gets into it,” Volotovskii said about the new goal song. “If they can get into it there it would be super sick, especially in the playoffs.”
The 19-year-old forward found twine for the in the period, after sustained pressure in the Hurricanes’ end. Ryder Ritchie circled around the zone and fired a shot from near the point that Volotovskii redirected to just sneak inside the post. Volotovskii’s second of the night and eighth of the season gave Medicine Hat a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes. Ritchie’s assist also gives him points in eight-straight games.
The Tigers ended the first period with 1:57 on a power play before the Hurricanes’ captain Noah Chadwick was called for a high stick double-minor on a play that happened before the buzzer.
Medicine Hat started the second with a five-on-three, eventually capitalizing late on the last couple minutes of Chadwick’s penalty. After play in the Medicine Hat end, the Tigers carried the puck up the ice on a four-on-one with Ritchie feeding Oasiz Wiesblatt for his 27th of the season and the 3-0 lead 3:24 into the period.
The Tigers held Lethbridge without a shot for a majority of the period, with the Hurricanes eventually striking late in the frame with a pair of chances in-tight on Harrison Meneghin, who made save after save to preserve the 3-0 lead.
Medicine Hat pushed the game out of reach early in the third with a pair of goals. Just 1:38 into the final frame, Gavin McKenna had the puck near the point and skated in, sending a pass to Ritchie at the face-off dot and he wired home his 22nd of the season to make it a 4-0 game. Tanner Molendyk had the second assist, McKenna’s helper extends his point streak to 32 games.
The Tigers final tally a little over eight minutes later, on another power play. From the same spot McKenna fed Ritchie, he fired a puck on net that bounced off a defender and into the net for his 30th of the season and the 5-0 lead at 8:49. Ritchie and Wiesblatt had the assists. McKenna’s two-point night pushes him past his career high of 97 points, coming out of the weekend with 30 goals and 99 points in 48 games.
Lethbridge snapped Meneghin’s shutout bid with a power play goal in the last half of the third. Trae Johnson banged in a pass from Kooper Gizowski, pushing a puck past the Tiger net minder for the 5-1 final score. Meneghin finished his night with 20 saves, picking up his 16th win of the season.
“We don’t give up a lot of shots, but sometimes we do and they are pretty high quality,” Meneghin said. “For me, it’s making those saves our team needs the most. It’s those saves where it could be 2-1 or 3-1 for us but instead it’s 4-0. So it’s just those momentum saving saves.”
The Tigers outshot the Hurricanes 28-21, won the face-off battle 28-26 and scored on 3-6 power plays, holding the Hurricanes to the lone power play goal on three man advantages.
With the win Saturday, they remain atop the Eastern conference and the Central division with a 37-16-3-1 record. The Tigers are off until Friday when they open up a three-in-three stretch, hosting the Edmonton Oil Kings on Friday and the Kamloops Blazers on Saturday before heading to Edmonton on Sunday for a road contest.
“That third game in Edmonton is going to be really, really hard,” Desjardins said. “They don’t play the night before, so we have to be ready in those first two and then the third, we’re going to have to find a way to battle. So it’s going to be hard, Edmonton coming in here and they’re a good skating club, they’re pretty healthy and they’ll be really hard to handle.”
Games Notes
Attendance: 5,018
Three Stars
First star: MH Ryder Ritchie (1G, 3A)
Second star: MH Misha Volotovskii (2G)
Third star: MH Gavin McKenna (1G, 1A)
