Tigers sweep home stand Tuesday to sit four up on home ice advantage

Rebels forward Josh Tarzwell made work of a fortunate bounce with seven minutes left in the opening period to open the scoring for the visitors, however he was answered by an Elijah Brown marker on the power play two minutes later.

Chyzowski scored his first of the night shorthanded with just 12 seconds left in the period to give Medicine Hat their first lead of the game heading into the intermission.

Early in the second frame, Red Deer was once again able to get back to even footing with Joel Sexsmith’s second goal of the season to draw the Rebels even at 2-2.

Medicine Hat’s special teams continued to fire on all cylinders as the second rolled along, picking up their second goal of the night on the man advantage courtesy of Cole Sillinger.

“I know [assistant coach Ryan Smith] wanted the power play to step up,” said Brown. “We had a couple of rough weeks there, but we’ve been good the last three games. So if we keep that going, especially with only five games left, it’s going to be very important.”

No slowing down from Red Deer in the third period however, as Arshdeep Bains scored his 18^th of the year following a review from the officials with seven minutes to go in regulation to tie it at 3-3.

Needing overtime between the Central Division rivals, Medicine Hat came away the victor with Lukas Svejkovsky driving to the net and feeding Chyzowski with a beautiful pass behind the back for the game winner.

“I just saw [Svejkovsky] going up the ice and I wanted to catch up and join the rush,” said Chyzowski. “He made a good play to drop it there and just shoot it.”

Brett Kemp had a game-high three assists in the win, while Chyzowski has now potted seven goals in his last four games.

Garin Bjorklund earned the 20^th victory of his rookie campaign on Tuesday with a 21-save showing, while his counterpart in Red Deer’s Ethan Anders stopped 42 shots from the Tigers.

“It’s great to play Red Deer because they’re always physical,” said Tigers assistant coach Joe Frazer. “They always play you hard, they’re always mean in front, they play that playoff-style hockey all season long. So, it’s great to play them and those are the types of games we want before playoffs to get us ready.”

Using up their game in hand on the Lethbridge Hurricanes, the 41-19-2-1 Tigers have extended their lead on second place in the Central to four points with five games to go.

Medicine Hat kicks off a home-and-home set with the Swift Current Broncos in Saskatchewan on Friday night before returning to the Canalta Centre on Saturday for ‘Bob Ridley Night’ as the famed broadcaster is set to call his 4,000^th career game.

by Scott Roblin

Tigers sweep home stand Tuesday to sit four up on home ice advantage

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