FIVE IN A ROW
They may not be playing exactly up to the standards of head coach Mike Williamson, but the Calgary Hitmen continue to win.
Add in Tuesday night’s 6-3 triumph over the Medicine Hat Tigers, and the Hitmen have won five straight while outscoring opponents 32-15 in that stretch.
Yet as the team prepares for the playoffs next week, Williamson sees a few areas from the game against the Tigers that need to be cleaned up.
“We scored some goals and created some offence, got some timely goals, but I thought we gave up way too much,” Williamson said.
“We are picking and choosing when to play and give good hockey teams the opportunity to get momentum. I thought our goalie kept us in it and we kept letting them back in the game.”
At the same time, he’s looking at the strong signs as well – like another win and one step closer to clinching the second best record in the Eastern Conference.
“I’m happy we won the game and our guys are finding ways to win,” Williamson said. “We are scoring goals, which was something we were concerned about. There is a lot of positives but there are things we need to clean up.”
Both the Hitmen and the Saskatoon Blades have two games left in the regular season, and the Hitmen have a three-point lead over the Memorial Cup hosts. Either a Hitmen win or Blades loss and the Hitmen clinch the second-best record in the conference.
Tuesday night’s game against the Tigers started slow, but by the end showed it’ll be an interesting first round matchup if these two teams meet in the playoffs.
Greg Chase opened the scoring for the Hitmen five minutes into the game when a scramble in front left him all alone to snipe in the puck from the slot. It stood as the only goal of the stanza.
Jake Virtanen was rewarded for his continued strong play in the second, when he one-timed home the puck to give the Hitmen the 2-0 lead.
However, back-to-back goals from Logan McVeigh tied up the game for the Tigers.
Calgary responded with back-to-back goals of their own, courtesy of Chase Clayton and Cody Sylvester to restore the home team’s two-goal lead.
Top NHL draft prospect Hunter Shinkaruk ended the high-scoring second period, to bring the Tigers within one.
Goals from Victor Rask and Calder Brooks in the third frame secured the Hitmen a 6-3 victory.
“Good teams find a way to win, and we battled hard in the third, got a few goals and really played solid,” said forward Brady Brassart, who ended the night with a pair of helpers.
All three Tigers goals were from the top line of Shinkaruk, McVeigh and Curtis Valk, who combined for eight points.
Goaltender Chris Driedger made 31 saves for his 35th win of the season. Cam Lanigan and Marek Langhamer split time in the other net, combining for 18 saves on 24 shots.
The Hitmen will finish off the season with a home-and-home series against the Kootenay Ice starting Friday in Cranbrook. Game time is 7 p.m.
