Hurricanes Fall 5-1 to Tigers on Monday
Medicine Hat, AB – The Lethbridge Hurricanes made their second-last visit to Medicine Hat to face the Tigers on Monday as they were downed 5-1 at Co-op Place.
Lethbridge entered with an 11-2-1-0 record in their last 14 road games. The ‘Canes were without Jordan Gustafson, Miguel Marques, Logan Wormald and Leo Braillard who were all sidelined with injury. Medicine Hat had a strong start to the game as they jumped out to an early 1-0 lead at the 1:55 mark when Misha Volotovskii scored his seventh of the year to give the Tigers the lead. Just under seven minutes later, Volotovskii struck again tipping home a Ryder Ritchie shot passed Jackson Unger to make it a 2-0 lead. Late in the period, the Hurricanes were assessed a pair of penalties, but Medicine Hat wasn’t able to extend their lead in the first as they held the 2-0 advantage after one period. Shots favoured the Tigers 11-10 in the period.
The Tigers had a five-on-three power play for just over a minute to start the second period with Caden Price in the box for a tripping penalty and Noah Chadwick for a double-minor for high-sticking. The ‘Canes were able to kill the two-man advantage, but late in the second of the double-minor, the Tigers added to their lead with Oasiz Wiesblatt snapped a short-side shot by Unger to make it 3-0 with the power play goal; Ritchie picked up his second assist on the goal. The Hurricanes came close to getting on the board at the midway point of the period, but Harrison Meneghin made a remarkable diving save off Kooper Gizowski. Meneghin made another great save in the dying minutes of the period when he slid across to stop Gavin Lesiuk on a wraparound before robbing Kash Andresen on the rebound as the Tigers held a 3-0 lead after forty minutes of play. Medicine Hat outshot Lethbridge 9-4 in the period.
In the third period, the Tigers started on a power play again and made good just 1:38 into the frame when Ritchie wired home his 22nd goal to make it 4-0; Gavin McKenna and Tanner Molendyk earned the assists on the goal. Medicine Hat struck again on the power play when McKenna slipped home his 99th point of the year to give the Tigers a 5-0 with a five-on-three goal. Lethbridge would end the shutout bid for Meneghin with a power play goal of their own with 5:14 remaining in the game as Trae Johnson stuffed home his fifth goal to make it a 5-1 final; Kooper Gizowski and Noah Chadwick were credited with the assists on the goal. Shots favoured the Tigers 8-7 in the third period.
The Hurricanes were outshot 28-21 by the Tigers in the game. Lethbridge went 1/3 on the power play while Medicine Hat was 3/6 with the extra man.
Three stars of the game were:
1) Tigers – #21 Ryder Ritchie (1 goal, 3 assists)
2) Tigers – #19 Misha Volotovskii (2 goals)
3) Tigers – #72 Gavin McKenna (1 goal, 1 assist)
The loss for the Hurricanes was their second-straight regulation loss as they fell to 14-13-1-1 on the road this season. Lethbridge’s overall record fell to 34-18-2-1 on the year as they fall to seven points behind the Tigers for top spot in the Central Division.
Lethbridge will return to the VisitLethbridge.com Arena on Wednesday when they host the Saskatoon Blades 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.
