Nick McCarry (right) celebrating one of his two goals in Saturday's 4-2 win against the Calgary Hitmen (Photo courtesy of Randy Feere / Medicine Hat Tigers)

By Scott Roblin

Power Play Rolling

Langkow stands tall in debut, Tabbies victorious over Hitmen 4-2

Mar 13, 2021 | 10:42 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – There was plenty of talking points when it came to the Medicine Hat Tigers’ 4-2 victory over the Calgary Hitmen on Saturday night.

You could bring up the team’s lethal power play this weekend which has led to six goals on the man advantage, or the breakout offensive play of Cole Clayton of late.

Saturday’s win however belonged to goaltender Beckett Langkow.

Making his first career WHL start against the Hitmen at Co-Op Place and playing in his first meaningful hockey game in almost a year, Langkow made 34 stops to pick up a win his Tigers debut.

Langkow’s night started off shaky to say the least though, allowing a goal by Calgary captain Josh Prokop just 58 seconds into his first start.

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Medicine Hat’s response was quick however, with Eric Van Impe firing a shot from the point that hit a body in front to fool Hitmen netminder Jack McNaughton under two minutes later for his second of the year on the man advantage.

Dominance by the Tigers on the power play would be a common theme throughout the night, with Nick McCarry making it a 2-1 game midway through the second before Cole Clayton struck with a power play marker himself despite his stick shattering on his point shot.

Clayton’s start to the WHL season has been nothing short of impressive, sitting tops in the entire league with five goals and 12 points through his first six games.

The Hitmen’s struggles with their power play unit were evident on Saturday dropping to 0-for-14 on the man advantage this season, though Zac Funk was able to net his first WHL goal just after a power play chance midway through the third.

McCarry ended Calgary’s hopes of a late comeback with his second goal of the night with 54 seconds remaining, firing the puck into an empty Hitmen net.

Through two games in this series, the Tigers have struck six out of eight times on the man advantage and now have the one of the WHL’s top-rated power play units sitting at a whopping 37 percent success rate.

Medicine Hat has jumped out to a 4-2-0-0 record to begin the 2020-21 WHL season with Saturday’s victory and will close out the weekend series with the Hitmen on Sunday evening at 7:00 pm at the Seven Chiefs Sportsplex.