By Mitch Bach

Butcher nets overtime winner as Tigers defeat Ice

Mar 7, 2017 | 9:09 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — Chad Butcher took one quick look at the top-right corner, and fired home the game winning goal in overtime as the Medicine Hat Tigers won a thrilling 4-3 decision over the Kootenay Ice on Tuesday night.

Butcher, who’s graduating from the WHL this season, has now tallied 25 goals on the year. He tacked on a helper to leave with his second two-point night in three games.

Mark Rassell opened the scoring with his team-leading 34th goal of the season at the 8:17 mark of the first period. The Calgary product has notched five markers in his last five games, which include a pair of tallies last week in Prince Albert, SK.

Tigers captain Clayton Kirichenko brought the home crowd to it’s feet again in the second period. His 12th goal of the season snuck over the glove of Ice goaltender Payton Lee to make it 2-0.

Each team brought their fair share of tenacity into the middle frame. Tigers forward Zach Fischer didn’t take kindly to Ryan Pouliot’s check which nearly planted him into the Kootenay bench. That sparked Fischer to drop the gloves for the second straight game, handing Pouliot several hard rights before sitting for five.

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Matt Bradley also got into the fisticuff scene late in the second, dropping the gloves against Dallas Hines after an awkward hit behind the Kootenay net. Hines sat for an extra two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct on the play.

Brett Davis squeaked a fluttering deflection past Michael Bullion early in the third period, bringing the Ice within one. Colton Kroeker tied the game up by capitalizing on a rare breakaway opportunity.

Many thought Bullion made arguably the best save of the season moments later; a last-ditch goal-line snag off of Vince Loschiavo. It was ruled “no goal” on the ice, until overhead cameras showed the puck actually crossed the line before Bullion pulled it out of the air. This served as Loschiavo’s 25th goal of the season, giving Kootenay their first lead of the game.

But the Tigers didn’t give up. After a flurry of scoring opportunities in the latter half of the third period, John Dahlstrom tied it up with his 28th of the season with just 3:49 to play.

Chad Butcher’s game winner came just 36 seconds into overtime.

The win pushes Medicine Hat four points up on the Lethbridge Hurricanes for the Central Division lead. However, the ‘Canes now hold one game in hand, which will be used Wednesday night against the Edmonton Oil Kings.

Nick Schneider was expected to start in goal for the first time since a win in Calgary on February 24th. But the netminder was forced to pull out during the warm-up due to illness. The Calgary Flames prospect has been nursing a minor lower body injury for the last couple weeks.

Tigers defenceman Kristians Rubins did not dress after sustaining an upper body injury last weekend. The team expects him to return in time for the playoffs.

The Tigers return to action on Friday night, hosting the Edmonton Oil Kings at the Canalta Centre.