By Scott Roblin

Tigers take pre-season opener in Lethbridge

Sep 2, 2017 | 12:02 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The Medicine Hat Tigers got their pre-season off on the right foot on Friday night, opening their exhibition schedule with a 4-2 win over the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

Starting plenty of rookies on Friday, it was the first meeting between the Tigers and Hurricanes since Game 7 of this past spring’s Eastern Conference semi-final.

Lethbridge’s Brady Pouteau gave the home crowd something to cheer about just 1:30 into the game, putting a power play marker past Tigers goalie Garin Bjorklund to give the ‘Canes a 1-0 lead.

The Tigers applied plenty of pressure in the first period with a blistering 17 shot output, but they were all stopped by Edmonton Oilers draft pick Stuart Skinner.

At the midway mark of the second, Tigers rookie Josh Williams capped off some nice passing between Kristians Rubins and Tyler Preziuso to tie the game at 1-1.

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Following the goal, the Tigers swapped out Bjorklund with Duncan McGovern to finish out the rest of the game.

Bjorklund left his first pre-season game of WHL action with one goal allowed on 20 shots over 31 minutes of play.

Lethbridge ran into some penalty trouble just a few minutes later, putting the Tigers on a 5-on-3 power play opportunity.

Williams continued his strong play with his second goal of the night with 4:40 to go in the second period, giving Medicine Hat their first lead of the contest.

Rookie defenceman Daniel Baker added onto that Tigers lead at the 5:15 mark of the third period, scoring his first of the pre-season to put Medicine Hat up 3-1.

With just over five minutes remaining in the game, Medicine Hat put their pre-season opener away with a Corson Hopwo goal to take a 4-1 advantage.

Hurricanes forward Giorgio Estephan closed the gap to 4-2 late, but the Tigers held on to win on the road by a pair of goals.

Tigers winger Henry Rybinski had a game-high three assists on the night, while Williams led the way with two goals.

McGovern finished the game with the same stat line as his teammate in Bjorklund, 19 saves on 20 shots against.

Medicine Hat plays their lone home game of the pre-season on Saturday night, as they face the Hurricanes in a rematch at the Community Centre in Taber.

Puck drop for the neutral-site game is set for 7:30 pm on Saturday.