Hurricanes Earn Sixth-Straight Home Win, Down Hitmen 4-1
Lethbridge, AB – The Lethbridge Hurricanes returned to action on Friday with a 4-1 victory over the Calgary Hitmen at the VisitLethbridge.com Arena.
The Hurricanes opened the second half of the WHL season with their first of 38 games in 86 days. Affiliates Tyden Lafournaise and Easton Daneault made their WHL debuts in the game for the Hurricanes. Lethbridge had a great first period outshooting Calgary 10-9 in the opening frame. After a failed power play which kept the Hitmen pinned in their own zone for nearly the duration of the two-minutes, the Hurricanes opened the scoring with an even-strength goal by Tristen Doyle who beat a screened Anders Miller for his first of the year to make it 1-0 at the 12:44 mark; Noah Chadwick and Cameron Norrie earned the assists on the goal. Lethbridge doubled their lead just 55-seconds later when Logan Wormald outwaited the Hitmen netminder before sliding home his team-leading 18th goal to make it 2-0; Doyle and Brayden Edwards picked up the assists as the Hurricanes led by two goals after twenty minutes.
Calgary responded in the second period as they carried the play for the bulk of the period out-chancing Lethbridge. The Hitmen came close with a pair of power play opportunities, but Jackon Unger was strong in the ‘Canes net to keep it a 2-0 lead. The Hitmen eventually cut the Lethbridge lead in just at the midway point when Brandon Gorzynski slipped a shot through the legs of Unger to make it a 2-1 game; Oliver Tulk and Ben Kindel earned the assists to extend point streaks to 12 and 15 games respectively. Lethbridge answered to restore their two-goal lead before the end of the period when Doyle buried a one-timer for his second goal of the night with a power play to make it a 3-1 game; Daneault and Will Sharpe were credited with the assists as Doyle potted his second-career two-goal game. The Hitmen outshot the Hurricanes 12-7 in the middle frame.
In the third period, the Hurricanes outshot the Hitmen 14-11 as they pressed to add to their lead. Daneault had a pair of great chances, including a point-blank chance on a partial three-on-one, but Miller was able to stretch out to make a left pad save on the 16-year-old to keep it a 3-1 game. Calgary pulled the goaltender with over three-minutes in the game to mount a comeback, but the ‘Canes found the empty-net with a goal by Edwards who buried the puck on a breakaway to seal a 4-1 game; Wormald and Norrie picked up the assists on the goal as Lethbridge earned the victory to open the second half.
Lethbridge was outshot 32-31 in the contest by Calgary. The Hurricanes went 1/5 on the power play while going 3/3 on the penalty kill.
Three stars of the game were:
1) ‘Canes – #9 Tristen Doyle (2 goals, 1 assist)
2) ‘Canes – #35 Jackson Unger (31-saves)
3) ‘Canes – #21 Easton Daneault (1 assist)
The win for the Hurricanes improved their overall record to 18-11-1-1 on the season as their home record lifted to a league-best 14-2-1-0 on the year. Lethbridge has now won six-straight home-ice victories while they earned their first win of the season against Calgary to improve to 8-5-0-0 against Central Division opponents.
The Hurricanes will open a two-game road trip on Saturday as they visit the Medicine Hat Tigers at Co-op Place at 7:00pm before visiting the Red Deer Rebels on Monday night in their final game of 2024. Lethbridge will return to the VisitLethbridge.com Arena on Friday, January 3rd when they open a three-in-three weekend against the Edmonton Oil Kings 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.
