PHOTO COURTESY WHL/LARRY BRUNT
The Medicine Hat Tigers swarm Hunter St. Martin after his first period goal in Tuesday's Game 3 against the Spokane Chiefs in the WHL Championship Series.
The Medicine Hat Tigers are back ahead in the WHL Finals.
The Tigers won 6-0 Tuesday in Spokane over the Chiefs to take Game 3 and nab a 2-1 lead in the WHL Championship series. Harrison Meneghin stopped all 28 shots he faced for his third shutout of the playoffs.
“He was unbelievable,” Desjardins said about Meneghin in the postgame press conference streamed on the WHL’s Youtube.
“I didn’t think it was a 6-2 game in Medicine Hat and I don’t think this was a 6-0 game. Both could have been a lot closer than they were. Our goaltending was really good tonight.”
Looking at the win as a whole, Desjardins says it was the response they needed coming off the 6-2 Game 2 loss Sunday.
“They had a really good game in Medicine Hat, kind of took it away from us. It was important to see how we would respond, you never know in those games. But when you get games like that, your leaders have to step up and our leadership was really good tonight,” Desjardins said. “They stepped up, the boys wanted it and we played a pretty good team game.”
Medicine Hat outshot Spokane 45-28, the first time in the series they’ve led a game in shots. It’s the most shots the Chiefs have allowed all playoffs. Spokane head coach Brad Lauer was blunt with his assessment of the Chiefs’ play Tuesday.
“To be pretty honest, we weren’t good as a group,” Lauer said in the postgame press conference streamed on the WHL’s Youtube.
“It’s one of those things. Medicine Hat had their best game of the series, they came and had jump and were skating. For us, we were on our heels.”
The Tigers were without froward Gavin McKenna Tuesday, he took warmups but did not dress, out with a lower-body injury. Marcus Pacheco slotted in the lineup for his first appearance in the WHL finals. Desjardins says they thought McKenna would be able to play but liked how the team handled his absence.
“The nice thing for us, he’s been such a big part of our team all year, it was really nice for us to rally behind and win one for him because he’s got quite a few for us,” Desjardins said. “The boys were playing for him, I liked our result obviously but it was a lot closer game than the score.”
For the third straight game in the series, the Tigers kicked off the scoring.
Andrew Basha won a puck battle in the Spokane end, Oasiz Wiesblatt picked up the puck and fed Cayden Lindstrom for a one-timer at 11:45. He opened the scoring for a second straight game, scoring first in Spokane’s 6-2 Game 2 win Sunday. Lindstrom also had an assist on Basha’s game-opening goal in the Tigers’ 4-1 Game 1 win on Friday.
The 19-year-old Columbus Blue Jackets’ prospect tee’d up the Tigers’ second goal.
Lindstrom won a puck battle at the Tiger blue line before flying up ice. He threw a backhand shot on net, creating a rebound that Hunter St. Martin knocked in for his fifth of the playoffs and the 2-0 lead with 1:51 left in the period. Wiesblatt liked how the Tigers took the energy out of the 7,814 in attendance in Spokane.
“It was a good response, we played a great Tigers hockey kind of game style and the fans here were electric,” Wiesblatt said. “It was good for us to take that one.”
They kicked off the second in fashion, with a goal from Kadon McCann. Veeti Väisänen carried the puck into the Spokane end, curling behind the net to feed McCann for his second of the playoffs.
The Tigers scored in similar fashion later in the period.
Marcus Pacheco had the puck behind the Spokane net, he fed Liam Ruck in front for a one-time blast for the 4-0 lead after 40 minutes. Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll had the second assist on Ruck’s fifth of the playoffs, first of the WHL Championship series.
The Tigers had a scare late in the second as Lindstrom was hit with a knee by Spokane defender Sage Weinstein. He was slow to his feet, unable to put much weight on his left leg. He returned later in the third period.
Basha scored his second of the playoffs 23 seconds into the third period. He danced his way through some defenders, scoring bar-down on Carter Esler to make it 5-0.
Bryce Pickford scored his 10th of the playoffs with a power play laser at 9:16. He unleashed a shot from his spot, at the top of the circles, for goals in six straight games. Wiesblatt and Tanner Molendyk had the assists.
Dawson Cowan made 28 saves before being lifted after 40 minutes. Esler made 11 saves. Tigers were 1-3 on the power play, holding the Chiefs scoreless on their three man advantages. Spokane won the face-off battle 49-19.
Game 4 of the best-of-seven series goes tonight back in Spokane. Game 5 will be Friday, also in Spokane. Chiefs’ forward Shea Van Olm says they’ll look to flush the game and move on.
“A big thing for us is to just have a short memory, that’s all we can do and learn from our mistakes tonight and just be here to have a better start tomorrow,” Van Olm said.
