Hurricanes Winning Streak Stopped at Three with Loss to Tigers
Medicine Hat, AB – The Lethbridge Hurricanes had their three-game winning streak end on Saturday with an 8-4 loss to the Medicine Hat Tigers at Co-op Place.
Lethbridge opened a stretch of five of their next six games on the road as they faced Medicine Hat for the fourth time this season. It was a gunslinger start to the contest which saw the teams combine for five goals in a span of just four minutes. The Hurricanes opened the scoring with a power play goal by Kayden Longley who chipped home his first goal in 18-games at the 4:33 mark to mark it 1-0; Kyle Heger and Easton Daneault earned the assists on the goal. Just 37-seconds later, the Tigers tied the game when Kadon McCann finished a centering pass from Josh Van Mulligen to tie the game 1-1. Medicine Hat took the lead at the 7:32 mark when Noah Davidson went coast-to-coast before slipping a shot under the pads of Koen Cleaver to make it 2-1. The Tigers struck against 37-seconds after that as Carter Cunningham redirected home his seventh goal of the season to make it 3-1. However, the ‘Canes responded with a slapshot goal by Matteo Fabrizi who buried his third of the season to pull Lethbridge to 3-2 just 8:33 into the hockey game; Carsen Adair and Hudson Kibblewhite picked up helpers on the goal. At the 12:03 mark, the Tigers restored their two-goal lead when Andrew Basha scored a beautiful goal in front to make it 4-2 while chasing Cleaver from the net with the fourth goal on six shots. Leif Oaten replaced Cleaver and the Tigers struck again in the final minute of the period when Davidson snuck home his second of the period to give Medicine Hat a 5-2 lead after twenty minutes of play. Shots favoured the Tigers 12-10 in the opening period.
The teams traded a pair of goals in the second period. Lethbridge pulled to within two with an early power play goal by Owen Berge who potted his team-leading 16th goal of the season just 1:16 into the frame; Heger and Kibblewhite earned the assists on the goal which was Berge’s fourth goal in two games. Medicine Hat, however, restored their three-goal lead at the midway point of the period when Liam Ruck deflected a puck passed Oaten for his 29th goal of the season at the 11:30 mark to make it a 6-3 contest; Markus Ruck and Niilopekka Muhonen were credited with the assists on the goal. The Hurricanes pressed in the final minutes of the period to get back to within two, but Carter Casey made a pair of strong saves to keep the Tigers ahead by three after forty minutes of play. Shots in the middle frame favoured the Tigers 11-6.
In the third period, the Tigers built on their lead in the opening minute when Basha fired home a backhand shot for his second goal of the game to make it a 7-3 contest just 41-seconds into the period; both Ruck twins earned assists on the goal. Medicine Hat made it an 8-3 game at the 9:12 mark when Tyson Moss lifted home his eighth goal of the season with a sharp-angle backhand shot from the side of the net. The Hurricanes rounded out the scoring with a power play goal at the 12:32 mark when Daneault finished a cross-crease pass for his eighth goal of the year to make it an 8-4 game; Longley and Kade Duell picked up the assists on the goal. Medicine Hat outshot Lethbridge 13-5 in the third period.
The Hurricanes were outshot 36-21 by the Tigers in the game. Lethbridge went 3/4 on the power play while Medicine Hat was 0/2 with the extra man.
Three stars of the game were:
1) Tigers – #39 Noah Davidson (2 goals)
2) Tigers – #34 Andrew Basha (2 goals)
3) Tigers – #12 Liam Ruck (1 goal, 2 assists)
The loss for the Hurricanes ended their season-long three-game winning streak as their road losing streak extended to 11-straight games dating back to November 18th. Lethbridge’s road record this season fell to 5-19-0-0 this season while their overall record slipped to 15-34-0-1 on the year. The ‘Canes ended the month of January with a 4-9-0-0 record in 13 games.
The Hurricanes will continue their stretch of road games with a two-game Saskatchewan road trip this coming weekend as they will visit the Prince Albert Raiders at 6:00pm on Friday before facing the Saskatoon Blades on Saturday. Lethbridge returns to the VisitLethbridge.com Arena on Friday, February 13th when they welcome Landon Dupont and the Everett Silvertips. 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.
