Hurricanes Drop Second Straight Overtime Game; Fall 3-2 to Tigers
Lethbridge, AB – The Lethbridge Hurricanes played their final home game of the regular season on Friday as they suffered a 3-2 overtime loss to the Medicine Hat Tigers at the ENMAX Centre.
It marked the eighth of nine meetings between the Highway-3 rivals and the first of a season-ending home-and-home set. The two teams traded great chances in the first ten minutes of the game but both goaltenders – Harrison Meneghin for Lethbridge and Ethan McCallum for Medicine Hat – were terrific early. The ‘Canes had a great chance to open the scoring when Logan Wormald was sprung on a breakaway, but McCallum was able to make a great pad save to keep the game scoreless. Late in the period, the Tigers found first blood when Bogdans Hodass banged home a rebound for his seventh goal of the season to make it 1-0 Medicine Hat; Matt Paranych and Gavin McKenna earned the assists on the goal. Lethbridge held the edge in shots 16-14 in the first period as Medicine Hat held the lead.
Early in the second period, the Hurricanes drew even as Wormald slipped home his 19th goal of the season on yet another breakaway beating McCallum five-hole to tie the game 1-1 just 21-seconds into the period; Noah Chadwick and Logan McCutcheon picked up the helpers on the goal. Just over six-minutes later, however, the Tigers pulled back in front as McKenna stole a puck from Meneghin at the side of the net and banked home his 32nd goal – and 94th point of the season – to give Medicine Hat a 2-1 advantage. The Tigers dominated the second period as they peppered Meneghin with a whopping 23 shots in the frame but the ‘Canes MVP was superb keeping the game a one-goal deficit after forty minutes of play. The Hurricanes were outshot 23-10 in the second period.
Lethbridge was on their heels early in the third period as the Tigers continued to carry the play creating countless scoring chances but again Meneghin was terrific to keep the game a 2-1 game. Lethbridge was outshot 15-8 in the third period, but late in regulation the Hurricanes pulled the goaltender and for the third straight game they were able to tie the game with an extra-attacker goal when Brayden Edwards rifled home his team-leading 31st goal of the season beating a screened McCallum to tie the game 2-2 with 2:01 to play; Chadwick and McCutcheon drew the assists on the equalizing goal. Neither team was able to find a go-ahead goal in the final two minutes as the game went to overtime.
In the extra session, the ‘Canes and Tigers traded chances with Medicine Hat continuing to pepper the Hurricanes goaltender. Meneghin made two fantastic pad saves on McKenna and Wiesblatt in overtime to keep the game going. After a Lethbridge timeout, the Tigers stole a puck after a faceoff and Wiesblatt scored the winner with just 49-seconds left in overtime slipping a shot five-hole on the 56th shot of the game to give Medicine Hat a 3-2 victory.
The shots in the game favoured Medicine Hat 56-35 in the game, marking a new season-high for shots allowed by the Hurricanes. The ‘Canes and Tigers both went 0/2 on the power play.
Three stars of the game were the Hurricanes overage players:
1) ‘Canes – #7 Joe Arntsen
2) ‘Canes – #16 Sean Tschigerl
3) ‘Canes – #10 Dylan Sydor
The loss for the Hurricanes marked the fourth-straight game that Lethbridge earned a point as it was the third straight game decision 3-2 in overtime. The ‘Canes finished the regular season with an 18-10-6-0 record at the ENMAX Centre while their overall record slipped to 32-28-7-0 on the season. Lethbridge is now 8-3-3-0 in their last 14 games.
Lethbridge will end the regular season on Saturday with a rematch against the Tigers in Medicine Hat at 7:00pm at Co-op Place. The Hurricanes will face the Swift Current Broncos in the first round of the 2024 WHL Playoffs presented by Stringam Law beginning on Friday, March 29th on the road. The ‘Canes will host Games 3 and 4 at the ENMAX Centre on April 2nd and 3rd at 7:00pm. Tickets can be purchased by visiting the ENMAX Centre Ticket Centre, by calling 403-329-SEAT (7328) or online at www.enmaxcentre.ca and will go on sale beginning on Tuesday, March 26th at 10:00am.