jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers kept themselves in the playoff hunt as they wrapped up a four-game home stand on Friday.
The Tigers beat the Edmonton Oil Kings 5-2 to mark a stretch of three wins out of four at Co-op Place before hitting the road to face the Winnipeg Ice tonight and the Brandon Wheat Kings on Wednesday.
Head coach Willie Desjardins was happy with the win but would have liked a stronger third period. He gives credit to the Oil Kings for not rolling over early.
“We watch them on video and they’re better than their record they get above the puck and they don’t give you a lot,” Desjardins said. “We just quit working a little bit as the game went on but have to give them credit, they worked hard and got some stuff going.”
With the win on Friday paired with the 6-4 win over the Ice on Wednesday, the 7-3 victory over Kamloops on Feb. 25 and other teams helping them in the standings, the Tigers remain in seventh place of the Eastern conference with 61 points and a record of 26-24-8-1.
“These last two games have been really crucial and the four points out of six possible is really big but we just got to carry that,” forward Tyler MacKenzie said. “We know what Winnipeg is like, what Brandon is like. We’re going there to do a job, have fun and get some points.”
MacKenzie had a goal and two assists in Friday’s win as part of a recent string of production, giving him four goals and six points in his last five games. In 49 games this season he has 17 goals and 32 points.
“MacKenzie was really good, he had a great game, not just because he got points or whatever but he played really hard,” Desjardins said. “(Tomas) Mrsic was pretty good and I thought (Pasha) Bocharov was really good. Him coming back into the lineup was outstanding and (Hunter) St. Martin was good too.”
Beckett Langkow was between the pipes against the Oil Kings and picked up his 22nd win on the season after making 25 saves. Brendan Lee had two goals, bringing his season total to 27. Mrsic added his eighth on the season and Cayden Lindstrom also scored, giving him 17 on the season.
Bocharov had been out of the lineup since Feb. 20 with an upper body injury. As the Tigers hit the road for Manitoba for the last time this regular season, Desjardins says there ins’t a lot to pull from the Edmonton game because it all has to reset for them every day.
“You don’t take anything from it, every game now is a new game, as soon as we get to it it’s a new game,” Desjardins said. “We have to find a way to be good and those are really, really tough games coming up and big games for us. We just have to be ready each game and know they’re going to be hard.”
