Tigers dominate down low in win over Rebels
Tigers 4 Rebels 2
The sooner the Red Deer Rebels come to realize that their net area should be no man’s land for opposing forwards, the better off they’ll be.
The Medicine Hat Tigers scored each and every one of their goals from in tight Friday night in a 4-2 WHL win over the Rebels in front of 3,881 fans at the Peavey Mart Centrium.
“Five-on-five we were pretty good in the O zone, but in the D zone, again . . . you start showing stats where guys score their NHL goals, it’s two feet from the net,” said Rebels head coach Derrick Walser.
“We gave up four goals within two inches of the net. That’s how you score goals, as simple as that. They won the blue paint battle tonight and good for them.”
The evening started on a positive note for the Rebels, who carried the play to the visitors early and struck first when defenceman Hunter Mayo, from low in the right circle, beat netminder Evan May with a seeing eye shot to the far corner. Dwayne Jean Jr. drew the primary assist after breaking over the blueline and dropping the puck to Mayo.
It was the lone lead of the night for the home side as the Tigers pulled even shortly after when Shane Smith jammed the puck past Red Deer goaltender Kyle Kelsey from the edge of the crease.
Just over five minutes later Tomas Mrsic chipped the puck over Kelsey while stationed at the side of the goal and the Tigers took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.
Cayden Lindstrom, selected as the game’s first star, notched his first of two goals on the night 14 minutes into the middle frame, converting a rebound off the end boards, again a mere foot or so from the net.
With the Rebels on the power play, defenceman Mats Lindgren, from the high slot, beat May to the glove side to pull his team to within one at 6:46 of the third period, but Lindstrom responded eight minutes later, this time reaching around from behind the net and stuffing the puck in for his third goal of the season.
“I thought they played meaner around our net and we didn’t play mean enough around our net, as simple as that,” said Walser.
The Rebels outshot their guests but didn’t get to enough loose pucks to take advantage of that edge.
May, the game’s second star, also played a major role in the outcome while making 37 saves. Kelsey stopped 29 shots at the other end, including a handful that were labelled.
“You don’t get 40 shots without effort,” said Walser, who welcomed Mayo, Lindgren and Kalan Lind, who returned from NHL camps this week, back into the fold. “I thought the kids worked hard, sometimes they didn’t work smart. With a bunch of new bodies coming in we just weren’t in synch.
“We’ll have a good week of practice to get back on the same page.”
The Rebels were one-for-five on the power play, the Tigers one-for-three.
“I wasn’t happy with the power play at all,” said Walser. “We didn’t execute the small details well.
“There were little hold ups and we lost the battle in the (man advantage) faceoffs. Again, those are details we have to clean up.”
Notable: Lindgren, freshly back from the Buffalo Sabres training camp, was selected as the game’s third star . . . The Rebels named their leadership group earlier in the day, tapping Kai Uchacz as captain and Lindgren, Mayo, Lind and Jhett Larson as alternates . . . Medicine Hat improved to 3-0 on the season while Red Deer fell to 1-2 . . . The Rebels will welcome the Prince Albert Raiders to the Centrium next Friday and will host the Lethbridge Hurricanes 24 hours later.
