Medicine Hat Tigers forward Hunter St. Martin looks to make a pass from behind the net in the first period of a 5-4 Game 3 loss to the Broncos on Tuesday in Swift Current.--NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
There’s a certain amount of randomness when it comes to chances.
In life, the game of chance, and in hockey, every different opportunity for chance can play out in a number of ways. In the Medicine Hat Tigers’ first-round series with the Swift Current Broncos, the Tigers have led the first three games in chances but haven’t reaped all the rewards.
The 4-0 Game 1 win saw Medicine Hat outshoot the Broncos 27-21, and more importantly, allow just four shots in the third period. Game 2 followed a similar path, a 33-18 shot difference for the Tigers with the Broncos limited to just three shots in the final frame.
Tuesday’s 5-4 Game 3 loss in Swift Current, despite the result, was no different. The Tigers outshot the Broncos 36-26, holding them to single-digit shots in two of the three periods.
But a hat trick from former Tiger Carlin Dezainde and the game winner from St. Albert product Connor Dale were the difference as Swift Current showed life in the best-of-seven series.
“This is a tough building, they’re good team so it doesn’t surprise me,” head coach Willie Desjardins said postgame. ” (Game 4) is going to be a tough game, too, every night it’s going to be like that. But they’ve got a good team, they have lots of speed. So we had our chances, we just didn’t capitalize.”
The Tigers had chances beyond shots on net, with Ryder Ritchie having a goal called back due to incidental contact with Swift Current net minder Reid Dyck, and Misha Volotovskii stopped on a penalty shot chance in the third, right before Dale sealed the game winner. One could fall into a game of ‘what ifs’ with goals like that, a mindset Desjardins won’t entertain.
“It’s a whole game, we have the whole game to make a difference,” Desjardins said. “So it would have been nice for both of them, but that’s where it goes.”
Hunter St. Martin’s shorthanded goal in the second period was his eighth marker of the season on the penalty kill, scoring on a breakaway by utilizing the speed that has become his bread and butter. The Florida Panthers prospect hopes to use the goal as momentum as the series continues with Game 5 Friday in Medicine Hat.
The loss snapped the Tigers’ 12-game win streak, dating back to the regular season, the last previous loss coming Feb. 21 – 5-4 to the Edmonton Oil Kings at Co-op Place. That streak tied the Tigers’ longest of the season, ending Feb. 1 in Seattle, also the longest in the WHL this season.
Game 3’s defeat was just the sixth for the Tigers since calendars flipped in January, picking up 28 wins in the process.
Looking at that Game 3 loss and how close they were, St. Martin says they have to continue moving on as they have throughout the year following a loss.
“You’re almost maybe more frustrated, or there’s a lot of things that can really hurt you inside with that loss but in the playoffs, you just can’t do that,” St. Martin said. “But you just have to move on, and that’s what we’ve done, just move on. All we can do is win today.”
There was a scare in the Tigers’ lineup following Game 3 as Tigers’ forward Gavin McKenna, who had two assists in the loss, was handed a game misconduct following a scrum at the end of the game. The WHL looked at the moments following the final buzzer but the 17-year-old faced no supplemental discipline.
Tickets for Game 5 went on sale Wednesday at noon with more than 1,300 sold in the first 30 minutes of availability.
