Hurricanes Earn Point in Overtime Loss to Tigers
Medicine Hat, AB – The Lethbridge Hurricanes dropped their fifth-straight game on Saturday with a 4-3 overtime loss to the Medicine Hat Tigers at Co-op Place.
Lethbridge made their third visit to Medicine Hat this season as it marked the second of a home-and-home set which saw the Tigers earn a 3-0 victory on Friday at the VisitLethbridge.com Arena on Friday night. The Tigers had a strong start to the game as they outshot the Hurricanes 12-6 in the opening period. Medicine Hat opened the scoring at the 15:55 mark when Yaroslav Bryzgalov scored his ninth goal of the season to make it 1-0 as a pass deflected off a defender and past Leif Oaten; Tyson moss and Gavin Kor earned the assists on the goal. The Tigers struck again just 49-seconds later when Dayton Reschny buried a wrist shot over the glove of a screened Oaten to make it 2-0; Bryzgalov and Carter Cunningham picked up the assists on the goal. Before the end of the period, the Tigers struck again when Liam Ruck buried a power play goal for his 34th of the year to give Medicine Hat a 3-0 lead after one period of play.
The Tigers swarmed the Hurricanes crease in the first five minutes of the second period as they pepper Oaten, but the ‘Canes rookie netminder was outstanding, keeping the score 3-0. After a brouhaha midway through the period which saw Medicine Hat defenceman Jonas Woo assessed a five-minute major match penalty and a game misconduct, the Hurricanes found their game and got on the board when Tyden Lafournaise ended a nine-game goal drought lifting home his ninth goal of the season on a power play to make it a 3-1 game; Matteo Fabrizi earned the lone assist on the goal. Lethbridge struck again in the final minute of the second when Easton Daneault buried his tenth goal with 18-seconds remaining in the period cutting the Medicine Hat lead to 3-2; Mykolas Skadauskas and Owen Berge picked up the assists on the goal. Lethbridge was outshot 14-9 in the period by Medicine Hat.
In the third period, the Hurricanes pulled even at the midway point with a power play goal by Oli Chenier who was found alone in front of the net and shelved a shot over the glove of Tigers netminder Cash Christie to tie the game 3-3 at the 11:28 mark; Hudson Kibblewhite and Kai Anderson were credited with the power play helpers. The teams traded chances in the final nine minutes of the period, but neither team found a tiebreaking goal as the game went to overtime. The Tigers held the slight edge in shots 8-7 over the Hurricanes in the third period.
The overtime session was a slow approach by both teams who waited for an odd-man break. The Tigers had the first great chance to end the game when overage forward Andrew Basha was sprung on a breakaway but was stymied by Oaten who made a blocker save to keep the game alive. In the final minute of the extra session, Medicine Hat found a winner with just 17.7-seconds remaining when Tigers captain Bryce Pickford fired home his 34th goal of the season to lift the Tabbies to a 4-3 overtime win over the Hurricanes; Basha earned the only assist on the goal.
The Hurricanes were outshot 36-23 in the game by the Tigers. Lethbridge went 2/7 on the power play while Medicine Hat was 1/3 with the extra man.
Three stars of the game were:
1) Tigers – #27 Bryce Pickford (1 goal, 1 assist)
2) Tigers – #10 Yaroslav Bryzgalov (1 goal, 1 assist)
3) ‘Canes – #12 Tyden Lafournaise (1 goal)
The loss for the Hurricanes was their fifth-straight defeat, second of which have come in overtime, falling to 0-3-2-0 in that span. Lethbridge’s road record slipped to 1-1-2-0 in their last four games while falling to 6-21-2-0 on the year away from home. The Hurricanes overall record fell to 6-38-2-1 on the season as they dropped their 16th straight game (pre-season, regular season and playoffs) against the Tigers dating back to last year while slipping to 0-5-1-0 this regular season.
Lethbridge will return to the VisitLethbridge.com Arena on Wednesday at 7:00pm when they welcome the Moose Jaw Warriors before hosting the Swift Current Broncos on Friday at 7:00pm. Tickets for the game can be purchased by visiting the VisitLethbridge.com Arena Ticket Centre, by calling 403-329-SEAT (7328) or online at www.visitlethbridgearena.
