By Scott Roblin

Tigers come alive late in Lethbridge, first round matchup set

Mar 16, 2018 | 10:16 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The third period has proven to be problematic for the Medicine Hat Tigers over the last few weeks, but on Friday night they used the final 20 minutes to their advantage.

Taking on the Lethbridge Hurricanes in their final road game of the regular season, the Tigers had previously clinched the Central Division on Tuesday night.

That meant a number of everyday starters got the night off including captain Mark Rassell, who saw his consecutive WHL game streak come to an end at 208 games.

Meanwhile, the Tigers called up Garin Bjorklund from the Calgary AAA Buffaloes to back up Michael Bullion to kick off a regular season-ending home-and-home series.

Medicine Hat ran into penalty troubles throughout the first period, but their special teams stepped up and were able to kill off three straight infractions.

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The Hurricanes thought they took a 1-0 lead late in the period from Jake Elmer, but the play was reviewed and ruled no goal, keeping the game scoreless after the first.

Lethbridge took the first lead of the game just over four minutes into the second period from Calen Addison, ripping a shot from the point to put the home side up.

Josh Williams changed that for the Tigers though, deflecting a David Quenneville shot past Logan Flodell to tie the game with 7:47 left in the second period.

Both Bullion and Flodell came up big for the remainder of the period, keeping the game tied at 1-1 at the second intermission.

It took just 16 seconds for Medicine Hat to get their first lead of the night, as James Hamblin found Bryan Lockner with a cross-ice pass for an easy tap in and a 2-1 advantage.

The Hurricanes answered back with 8:19 remaining in regulation though from Jordy Bellerive, continuing his excellent year with his 45th to knot the game up once again.

With less than three minutes to go, Ryan Chyzowski came through in the clutch with a go-ahead marker to give the Tigers a 3-2 lead late.

Tyler Preziuso tacked on an empty-net shortly after, giving the Tigers a 4-2 against their Highway 3 rivals to snap their two-game losing skid.

Bullion earned his 20th win of the season for Medicine Hat, stopping 28 of the 30 shots he saw on the night.

With the Regina Pats beating Swift Current 3-2 on Friday as well, that means the Tigers will face the Brandon Wheat Kings in the first round of WHL playoffs for the second straight year.

One game left before that series however, as Medicine Hat will wrap up the regular season on Saturday night in a rematch against the Hurricanes.

Puck drop at the Canalta Centre between the Tigers and Hurricanes is set for 7:30 pm.