Hurricanes Cruise By Warriors 6-2 on Tuesday
Lethbridge, AB – The Lethbridge Hurricanes earned their second-straight win on Tuesday with a 6-2 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors at the VIsitLethbridge.com Arena.
It was the lone home game for the Hurricanes in a stretch of 18 days. Lethbridge was without new additions Caden Price and Anthony Wilson while Vojtech Port returned to the lineup after earning a Bronze medal at the World Junior Championship. The ‘Canes opened the scoring with a power play goal at the 10:22 mark when Tristen Doyle beat a screened Josh Banini with a point shot for his third goal to make it 1-0; Cameron Norrie and Kooper Gizowski earned the assists on the goal. Lethbridge doubled their lead just over five-minutes later when Port ripped a shot off the post and the puck deflected off the goaltender and into the net for his first goal as a Hurricane to make it 2-0. Shots were even 9-9 in the first period.
The two teams combined for five goals in the second period. Moose Jaw pulled to within a goal at the 2:38 mark with a power play goal by Ethan Semeniuk redirected his ninth goal of the season to make it 2-1; Landen McFadden and Nolan Paquette picked up the assists on the goal. Lethbridge responded with a power play goal of their own at the 10:28 mark when Logan Wormald wired home his 20th goal of the season to make it 3-1; Noah Chadwick and Brayden Yager earned the assists on the goal as Wormald reached the 20-goal mark for the second time in his career. Just 19-seconds later, the Warriors once again cut the lead to one with a rebound goal by Ethan Hughes to make it 3-2. The Hurricanes restored their two-goal lead just under two-minutes after that when Norrie buried a one-timer for his third goal to make it 4-2; Brayden Edwards and Logan McCutcheon were credited with the assists. Kooper Gizowski was hauled down on breakaway by Connor Schmidt resulting in a penalty shot; on the opportunity, Gizowski was turned away by Banini as the game remained a two-goal contest. Shortly after the penalty shot attempt, the Hurricanes increased their lead to three with a point shot by McCutcheon which deflected passed the Warrior goalie to give Lethbridge a 5-2 lead after two periods. The ’Canes matched a season-high with 23-shots in the middle frame.
In the third period, the ‘Canes struck again to add to their lead as McCutcheon buried a one-timer on a back-door feed from Wormald to make it a 6-2 advantage; Edwards picked up the second assist on the goal. The Hurricanes continued to press late in the game and McCutcheon, who had his first career two-goal game, came close to completing the hattrick as he redirected a centering pass from Doyle just wide of the goal as Lethbridge failed to add any more as they hung on to the 6-2 victory.
The Hurricanes outshot the Warriors 11-10 in the third period, while holding the edge 43-29 in the game. Lethbridge went 2/3 on the power play while Moose Jaw was 1/3 with the extra man.
Three stars of the game were:
1) ‘Canes – #2 Logan McCutcheon (2 goals, 1 assist)
2) ‘Canes – #24 Vojtech Port (1 goal, 1 assist)
3) ‘Canes – #12 Cameron Norrie (1 goal, 1 assist)
The win for the Hurricanes was their second-straight victory as they improved to 4-3-0-0 in seven games coming out of the Christmas break. Lethbridge’s overall record lifted to 21-14-1-1 on the season while their home record improved to 15-3-1-0 on the year. The Hurricanes improved to 4-0-0-0 this season against Moose Jaw while their record against East Division opponents lifted to 10-3-0-0.
The Hurricanes will open a five-game road trip on Friday when they visit the Swift Current Broncos at 6:00pm MT before visiting the Moose Jaw Warriors on Saturday. Lethbridge will return to the VisitLethbridge.com Arena on Wednesday, January 22nd when they welcome the Regina Pats at 7:00pm. Tickets can be purchased by visiting the Yates Memorial Theatre or VisitLethbridge.com Arena Ticket Centre, by calling 403-329-SEAT (7328) or online at www.visitlethbridgearena.ca.
