NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers captain Bryce Pickford is greeted by defenceman Riley Steen and goaltender Cash Christie to celebrate his game-winning goal in a 4-3, overtime win Saturday at Co-op Place over the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com
The Medicine Hat Tigers cashed in on an overtime win Saturday night.
After allowing three unanswered Lethbridge goals, Tiger captain Bryce Pickford scored with 17 seconds left in overtime to beat the Hurricanes 4-3. Saturday’s contest was the second for Pickford after missing 10 games with injury, returning for Friday’s 3-0 win in Lethbridge.
“They came out hard and they gave us a run for our money,” Pickford said. “I thought we had a good start but they battled back, and losing Woozy was a good test for a team because he’s one of our really good players and he brings a lot of offence. So I was telling the group there’s a challenge here and we (have) to look up to him. We (have) to rise to the occasion and we did.”
Defenceman Jonas Woo’s night came to an end 6:43 into the second period when he was assessed a 10-minute misconduct and a match penalty for attempt to injure after trying to start a fight in the Tigers end. Head coach Willie Desjardins didn’t see the play in the moment. According to the WHL rule book, players receiving a match penalty are suspended from further competition until the WHL Office rules on the issue.
Desjardins liked the start from his team and he says the Tigers penalty troubles made a difference.
“… But we were resilient, we stayed with it and it was good to get rewarded,” Desjardins said.
“They had lots of power plays, so they got a couple and you’re (going) to score on your power play sometime with that many minutes.”
Lethbridge was 2-7 on the power play, the Tigers were 1-3 on the man advantage.
Tigers starter Cash Christie, making his first WHL start, made 20 saves in the win.
“It was special, I was just trying to soak it all in and they were great in front of me,” Christie said. “So it was such cool experience and I’m just so happy we could get the win.”
The first got underway without scoring before the Tigers rattled off a three-pack in the last half of the frame.
Yaroslav Bryzgalov had the puck in the slot and he spun around and moved the puck looking to make a pass, ending up finding the back of the net at 15:55. Tyson Moss and Gavin Kor had the assists on his ninth.
Just 51 seconds later, Dayton Reschny, filling in on the Tigers blue line, walked the line before throwing the puck on net, finding twine for his 10th. Bryzgalov and Carter Cunningham has the assists.
With 27 seconds left in the frame and on a power play, the Tigers tickled twine again. Liam Ruck had the puck at the point and he skated in, unleashing a shot that beat the Lethbridge starter Leif Oaten for his 34th. Woo and Pickford had the assists.
A spirited second period saw the Tigers spend almost half the frame on the penalty kill.
Before the penalties, Woo was caught at the top of the point with a hit from behind. The blue liner, hit without the puck, was slow to get off the ice.
He returned on a penalty kill and later in the frame, he grabbed Easton Daneault in the corner and started throwing punches. A scrum ensued with a pair of skirmishes and Woo was assessed the match penalty and misconduct.
The Tigers killed off the five-minute major before the Hurricanes capitalized on another man advantage.
Tyden Lafournaise had the puck in the corner to the left of Cash Christie, making his WHL debut, and he scored with a shot between the bar and the net minder’s head. Lafournaise’s ninth made it a 3-1 game at 14:53.
Before the frame could end, the Hurricanes struck again.
Daneault fired a shot from the circles that beat Christie to make it a 3-2 game after 40 minutes. Despite the extended penalty time, the Tigers outshot Lethbridge 14-9 in the frame.
The Hurricanes tied the game up in the third with another power play goal. Oli Chenier was left alone in the slot and roofed a puck to make it 3-3 with 8:32 left in the third.
Neither team scored in the rest of the frame, sending the contest off to overtime. Both sides had chances before the Tiger captain called game.
Andrew Basha carried the puck up ice, dishing off to a streaking Pickford just inside the Lethbridge zone. He unleashed a laser from the slot, beating Oaten for his 34th of the season, winning the game with 17 seconds left in overtime.
Across from Christie, Oaten finished with 32 saves. The Tigers outshot the Hurricanes 36-23.
The Tigers (39-9-5-3) are on the road Tuesday, taking on the Edmonton Oil Kings.
“Back to back games against this (Lethbridge) wasn’t easy and Edmonton is coming off a loss, so they’re (going) to give us their best,” Pickford said. “I think we love that and we love playing in their barn, and it’s loud, and it’s a good test for us.”
