NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers captain Oasiz Wiesblatt celebrates him game winning, overtime goal to win Game 3 7-6 Tuesday night in Lethbridge. The win gives the Tigers a 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Championship series with the Hurricanes.
The Medicine Hat Tigers bent but they didn’t break Tuesday night and as a result, find themselves one win away from the league finals.
The Tigers trailed the Lethbridge Hurricanes 4-1 halfway through Game 3 at the VisitLethrbidge.com Arena before coming back multiple times to win 7-6 in overtime. The win, their ninth in a row, gives them a commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference Championship series.
Head coach Willie Desjardins says it was a contest that could’ve been a win for the Hurricanes.
“We knew they’d play well, they got a good start but it was another game that could have gone either way, obviously they could have won that one,” Desjardins said. “They have a lot of character over there, so it didn’t surprise me that they played well. But I am really excited we got to win,”
Hurricanes head coach Bill Peters was succinct in his postgame media, he says the effort was their best in the series but not enough for their first win.
“Just gave up too much, gave up too many, quantity and quality, both too high,” Peters said.
“It was by far our most competitive effort and I thought the day off Sunday gave us a little bit of an opportunity to get some gas in the tank and it made us a little better.”
The Hurricanes had played three games in four days with Games 1 and 2 on Friday and Saturday in Medicine Hat following a Game 7 win in Calgary over the Hitmen on April 23.
With some rested legs, Lethbridge opened the scoring with a pair of goals in the opening period, the first time in the series they’ve kicked off the offence.
The Hurricanes capitalized on an early power play, off a shot from Kooper Gizowski just 3:41 into the game. Caden Price and Easton Daneault had the assists on Gizowski’s fifth of the postseason.
They struck again just under eight minutes later with the first of the night from Noah Chadwick. Brayden Edwards carried the puck up ice on a rush chance and dished to the Hurricanes’ captain who scored with a blast to make it a 2-0 lead at 11:40.
Miguel Marques had the second assist as Lethbridge led 2-0 after 20 minutes, Medicine Hat led in shots 11-9.
Lethbridge opened the scoring in a busy second period. Kash Andersen was sprung all alone in on Harrison Meneghin and he scored his first of the playoffs, putting the Hurricanes up 3-0 5:26 into the middle frame.
The Tigers responded exactly 30 seconds later with a goal from Ryder Ritchie.
Gavin McKenna had the puck at the half wall and he fed Ritchie in the slot. The Minnesota Wild prospect spun and unleashed a wrist shot that beat Jackson Unger for his eighth of the playoffs. Jonas Woo had the second assist.
McKenna’s assist extends his CHL-leading point streak to 52 games. He passed the CHL’s previous record of 50 consecutive games with a point in a single season in the 2000s set by Alexander Radulov in 2005-06.
The Hurricanes regained a three-goal lead with another captain goal.
On a Lethbridge power play, Chadwick was fed for a one-timer and he unleashed a second blast of the night for his seventh of the playoffs and the 4-1 lead at 8:52. Marques and Brayden Yager had the assists.
The Tigers appeared to score on a power play before a referee review said the opposite. On an expiring four-on-three man advantage, Mat Ward came out of the box and after a flurry of stops from Lethbridge, scored from the slot at 8:55. The goal was called back due to a hand pass earlier in the play.
They made good later on the same power play. Liam Ruck wired a shot past Unger for his fourth of the playoffs, making it a 4-2 game at 11:53. Tanner Molendyk and Bryce Pickford had the assists.
Molendyk took control later in the frame to bring Medicine Hat within one.
The Nashville Predators’ prospect carried the puck up ice from the neutral zone, breaking in on Unger before wiring a shot over the net minder to make it a 4-3 game with 5:04 left in the period. Veeti Väisänen had the assists on his third of the postseason.
Molendyk says the comeback effort is one that’s hard to believe.
“To come out of that with the win is insane, you don’t see that every day,” Molendyk said. “To go down 4-1 and come back and win 7-6 in overtime, it’s unheard of.”
Lethbridge regained a two-goal lead 1:12 into the third period with Marques’ second of the night. The Nashville prospect scored a tap-in on a puck that Meneghin stopped with the pad but couldn’t send to the corner. Edwards had the lone assist on the goal.
After killing off a slashing penalty, the Tigers were sent back to the kill for a tripping call. They took advantage of the open ice. Ward was sent on a break and he scored over Unger to bring Medicine Hat within one at 6:45. Moldendyk had the lone assist on Ward’s third of the playoffs.
They tied the game up less than three minutes later.
Woo had the puck at the point in the Lethbridge end and he fired a pass towards the net that Kadon McCann corralled. The 17-year-old reached past a diving Unger and scored his first career WHL Playoff goal, tying the game up at 5-5 at 9:37.
Lethbridge grabbed a brief 6-5 lead off a turnover. The puck squirted out of the Tigers’ corner to a lonely Yager in front and the 2024 WHL Champion blasted home a goal to electrify the 4,794 in attendance with the lead, leaving just 3:19 on the clock.
Medicine Hat pulled the goalie early and went to work with the extra attacker.
The Hurricanes tried for an empty net, missing just wide, setting up a face off in the Lethbridge end. The puck went to Molendyk at the point and he passed to McKenna at the half wall. He sent a cross-ice pass to Pickford who bobbled it and then loaded up and fired home the 6-6 goal with 1:10 left in the frame.
His sixth of the playoffs sent the game to overtime with the Tigers outshooting Lethbridge 43-25.
The Tigers walked it off in the extra frame thanks to the top line. McKenna intercepted a breakout attempt by the Hurricanes and broke in on Unger with Wiesblatt to his left. The younger star passed off to the captain and he scored the game winner 2:41 into the overtime and skated right off down the tunnel.
“You don’t want to pass it to (Unger) and give it to him in the middle and I thought Gavin did a great job,” Wiesblatt said about the pass. “I thought the defenseman kind of had it and luckily I had it and I thought, we gotta get out here.”
Meneghin picked up his ninth win of the playoffs with 21 saves. Across the ice from him, Unger made 38 saves. Medicine Hat outshot the Hurricanes 45-27. Lethbridge won the face-off battle 32-21. Both teams were 50 per cent on the power play, Tigers 1-2 and Lethbridge 2-4.
The Tigers sit one win away from advancing to their first WHL finals since capturing the franchise’s fifth title in 2007. Desjardins says they won’t look at it from that angle, instead keeping the same focus they have all playoffs, just one game at a time.
“We’ll look at as one game, every game we approach is just that game, so that’s our that’s our mission is to find a way to win that night,” Desjardins said. “It’s a good thing, that’s the way we played all playoffs, so it’s no different than that. You just have to find a way.”
