Hurricanes End Homestand with 4-1 Loss to Hitmen
Lethbridge, AB – The Lethbridge Hurricanes suffered a 4-1 loss to the Calgary Hitmen on Saturday at the VisitLethbridge.com Arena.
It marked the final of a four-game homestand for the Hurricanes as they entered with a 7-6-0-0 record in their previous 13-games. Lethbridge and Calgary had a tentative start to the game as it took over three-minutes for the teams to register a shot on goal. The Hitmen jumped out to a 1-0 lead at the 8:19 mark when Keaton Jundt banged home a loose puck at the side of the net beating Koen Cleaver as Calgary opened the scoring for the 15th time this season; Hayden Schollar and Koy Funk picked up the assists on the goal. The ‘Canes had a power play later in the period but couldn’t generate much zonetime as the Hitmen managed to the keep the Lethbridge power play silent in the opening period as Calgary held the 1-0 lead after twenty minutes of play. Shots favoured the Hitmen 11-9 in the first period.
Calgary opened the second period on the power play after a Carsen Adair hooking penalty on an Andrei Molgachev breakaway. The Hurricanes penalty kill as the Hitmen failed to score before Caine Wilke took his team off the man-advantage. At the 9:48 mark, the Hitmen doubled their lead when Kale Dach buried a rebound after Cleaver made an outstanding save, but Lethbridge was unable to clear the puck and Dach slapped home his team-leading 14th goal of the season; Brandon Gorzynski and Landon Amrhein earned the assists on the goal. Calgary extended their lead to 3-0 just under five-minutes later when Ben MacBeath centered a puck to the front of the net that deflected off ‘Canes defender Will Scott and into the goal. Before the end of the period, the Hitmen struck again while shorthanded as Ethan Moore had a puck bounce off his chest and into the goal with 2.7-seconds left in the frame. The Hitmen outshot the Hurricanes 14-8 in the middle frame.
The Hurricanes opened the third period with 1:29 left on a power play – their fourth of the night – but the ‘Canes failed to strike to cut into the deficit. Calgary continued to carry the play in the third period and had a glorious opportunity to add to their lead, but Cleaver made a marvellous save kicking out his left leg on a back-door chance to keep it a 4-0 game. Late in the game, the Hurricanes broke the shutout bid when the captain Logan Wormald buried a back-hand passed Hesse for his 14th goal of the season – and 99th career goal – with just 1:35 remaining in regulation; Grady Pichette and Carsen Adair were credited with the assists as the game ended with Calgary earning a 4-1 victory.
The Hurricanes were outshot 39-22 in the game by the Hitmen. Lethbridge went 0/4 on the power play while Calgary was 0/1 with the extra man.
Three stars of the game were:
1) Hitmen – #22 Kale Dach (1 goal, 1 assist)
2) ‘Canes – #30 Koen Cleaver (35-saves)
3) Hitmen – #30 Aiden Hesse (21-saves)
The loss for the Hurricanes ends their four-game homestand with a 2-2-0-0 record as they fell to 5-4-0-1 in their last ten games at the VisitLethbridge.com Arena. Lethbridge’s home record on the year falls to 5-9-0-1 on the year while their overall record slipped to 10-19-0-1 this season. The ‘Canes now sit with a 2-3-0-0 record against the Hitmen while falling to 3-9-0-0 against Central Division opponents.
The Hurricanes will embark on a three-game East Division road trip starting Wednesday when they visit the Brandon Wheat Kings at 6:00pm before visiting the Saskatoon Blades on Friday and the Prince Albert Raiders on Saturday. Lethbridge will return to the VisitLethbridge.com Arena on Tuesday, December 16th at 7:00pm when they welcome the Edmonton Oil Kings in their final game before the Christmas break. 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.ca.
