Tigers’ comeback bid falls short Friday

By James Tubb on February 21, 2025.

The Medicine Hat Tigers couldn’t complete the comeback Friday night.

The Tigers scored with six minutes left to being themselves with one, ultimately falling 5-4 to the Edmonton Oil Kings at Co-op Place.

Medicine Hat came into the game with a four-gane win streak, beating the Lethbridge Hurricanes 5-1 on Monday. Tigers forward Gavin McKenna says they hurt themselves with penalties and didn’t have energy until late in the gane.

”There’s no really excuse, it’s just starts with the leadership group,” McKenna said. “We have to make sure that we got all the guys going. It’s just no excuse.”

The Tigers opened the scoring after sustained pressure in the Edmonton end.

A lengthy puck battle below the goal line eventually led to Mat Ward sending the puck out front. Hunter St. Martin pushed it along to the point where Veeti Väisänen threw a shot on net that beat Alex Worthington for a 1-0 lead 11:05 into the period.

The Oil Kings responded with a pair of goals following Väisänen’s second of the season.

Just under six minutes after the Tiger scored, Edmonton got on the board with a goal from Roan Woodward. He recorded his 19th of the season with a drive to the net from the corner, beating Harrison Meneghin for the 1-1 tie at 16:03. Gracyn Sawchyn had the second assist.

The Oil Kings grabbed a 2-1 lead on Landon Hanson’s 13th of the season. He had the puck in the corner to the right of Meneghin. Hanson fired a shot as he was getting stick-checked, sending the puck up and over the Tiger net minder for the Oil King lead with 3 minutes left in the frame.

The Tigers answered back with a pair to open the second period.

Just 3:51 into the period, McKenna picked the puck up in the corner and sent it to Oasiz Wiesblatt in front who buried it past Worthington to tie the game up with his 28th. McKenna’s assist extends his point streak to 33 games and gives him 100 points in 49 games on the season, becoming the first Tiger to reach the century mark since Chad Butcher in 2016-17.

“It’s a cool milestone,” McKenna said. “I’m a little frustrated with the way I’ve been playing, I haven’t been putting up the numbers I should be. I should be doing my part more. I just have to bare down on the chances I get.”

Ryder Ritchie had the second assist, extending his point streak to eight games.

The Tigers grabbed a brief lead on a power play 5:16 later.

Liam Ruck, celebrating his 17th birthday, was posted up in front of the net and he tapped in a shot from Tanner Molendyk on the man advantage for his 18th of the season. The assist was Molendyk’s 150th career point.

Edmonton knotted the game up at 14:38 on a power play of their own after a unique set of calls.

Wiesblatt drove the Edmonton net with the puck and was directed toward Worthington by a defender, colliding with the Edmonton goaltender. He was called for goaltender interference and Oil King Rhys Pederson was handed a two-minute roughing penalty. Also after the play, Tiger forward Carter Cunningham was assessed a four-minute penalty for high sticking.

The Oil Kings capitalized on that power play, with Sawchyn scoring on the man advantage to tie the game up at 3-3. Hanson and Gavin Hodnett had the assists.

Before the Oil Kings grabbed a 4-3 lead, the Tigers had a five-alarm chance that never made it out of the holster. McKenna and Ritchie had a clean breakaway, with McKenna dishing to Ritchie who opted pass instead of shooting, running out of space before the puck could make it to McKenna.

With 2:33 left in the middle stanza, Meneghin made a blocker save that sent the puck floating in the air, finding its way to the point where Josh Mori wired a shot past the Tiger net minder for the 4-3 Oil King advantage.

Associate coach Joe Frazer liked the effort late in the game.

“We’re sitting pretty good there in the second and to have that two goal swing right at the end there, that was tough,” Frazer said. But that third period was pretty good. Then we gave up the outnumbered rush to make it 5-3 which is tough.

“It’s nice to get within one and then we had a good look and (Worthington) made a heck of a save. But I thought we just gave up too much defensively.”

Edmonton got on the board first in the third period, capitalizing on an odd-man rush.

After the Tigers pressured in the Edmonton end, the puck went the other way with Hodnett carrying it up ice on a two-on-one with Adam Jecho.

He fed Jecho for a one-time blast, making it a 5-3 lead at 11:21.

The Tigers drew within one with exactly six minutes left in the game.

On a power play, McKenna had the puck on the left side of the ice and fed Ritchie on the right for a wrist shot, scoring his 23rd of the season to make it a 5-4 game. Molendyk had the second assist.

The Tigers pushed for the tie, after a pair of saves from Meneghin, they held play in the Edmonton end with the extra attacker.

Worthington turned aside a one-timer from Ritchie in the dying seocnds as the puck died in a skirmish, preserving the Edmonton win.

The Oil King net minder finished his night with 31 saves. Across the ice from him, Meneghin made 22 saves.

Medicine Hat outshot the Oil Kings 35-27, Edmonton won the face-off battle 30-26. Tigers power play was 2-3, Oil Kings were 1-5.

The Tigers (37-17-3-1) are back in action Saturday, hosting the Kamloops Blazers.

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