By Mitch Bach

Steenbergen, Broncos sneak by Tigers

Nov 17, 2017 | 8:53 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — The Medicine Hat Tigers had no answer for the best line in the Canadian Hockey League on Friday night.

Tyler Steenbergen added to his unruly scoring lead with a pair of goals, linemates Aleksi Heponiemi and Glenn Gawdin combined for five more points, and the Swift Current Broncos escaped the Canalta Centre with a 4-3 victory.

This line now has a combined 141 points this season in 19 games, averaging nearly 7.5 points per game for the Broncos.

The Tigers outshot Swift Current 42-16 through the contest; a testament to Broncos netminder Logan Flodell’s performance who made 39 saves.

Medicine Hat suffers it’s first loss of the month, snapping a five-game win streak. The last team the Tigers had lost to before Friday also came against Swift Current in late October.

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Steenbergen, now boasting a league-leading 30 goals this year, opened the scoring at the 13:54 mark of the first period, firing a low snap shot under the blocker of Michael Bullion.

Max Gerlach brought the game to a tie less than two minutes later, wrapping around his 7th goal of the season with Broncos ‘tender Logan Flodell caught out of his crease. Flodell shutout the Tigers in their most recent match, and made a combined 46 straight saves on the Tigers before Gerlach’s marker.

Swift Current scored twice in the dying seconds of the opening frame. First, Steenbergen collected his second of the night with 13 seconds to go. Then with five left on the clock, Conner Chaulk lit the lamp to give the Broncos a 3-1 lead after 20 minutes.

The Tigers through 30 shots towards Flodell in the first two periods. Captain Mark Rassell extended his goal-scoring streak to five games, finding the twine 5:11 into the second frame. 

Special teams proved challenging for the Tigers, going 0/5 on the man-advantage in the first two periods of play. Meanwhile, Swift Current made good on their lone opportunity with Max Gerlach sitting for tripping.

The third period didn’t get a whole lot better, with Heponiemi scoring early in the frame with defenceman Dalton Gally in the box. But just 43 seconds later, Gary Haden muscled his way through the Broncos defence and finished his 5th goal of the season up high on Flodell, cutting the deficit back to one.

Medicine Hat pushed in the final few minutes, but the veteran netminder held his cool solidifying the Broncos 14th win of the year.

Despite the loss, the Tigers still hold a commanding seven point lead over Red Deer for first place in the Central Division. Next up, the Tigers hit the road for a four-game swing through B.C. beginning with a pair of games in Prince George on Tuesday and Wednesday.