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By Scott Roblin

Tigers Come Up Short

Tigers fall flat in weekend opener, blanked by Blades 4-0

Oct 15, 2021 | 9:49 PM

SASKATOON, SK – Not much went right for the Medicine Hat Tigers on Friday night, kicking off a weekend road swing in Saskatchewan with a 4-0 shutout loss to the Saskatoon Blades.

Medicine Hat struggled to get their attack going against the Blades until it was too late in the third period, while a string of penalties kept their penalty kill on the ice for much of the night.

After opening the scoring in both of their games last weekend, it was Medicine Hat falling behind 1-0 early with Trevor Wong tipping a Pavel Bocharov point shot past Garin Bjorklund five minutes in.

That Blades lead was extended to 2-0 later in the first on the man advantage, as Egor Siderov deflected a shot from Aidan De La Gorgendiere to net his first career WHL goal.

Midway through the second, it was Kyle Crnkovic getting in on the scoring by wiring home a one-timer off a face-off draw for his fourth goal of the season.

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Things went from bad to worse for the Tigers early in the third while on the power play, as Tristen Robins sprung Crnkovic on a breakaway who made no mistake for the shorthanded marker.

Medicine Hat pressed in the third with 14 shots on goal, but Nolan Maier was able to turn aside everything he saw for his first shutout of the season with 26 saves.

Bjorklund meanwhile allowed four goals on 33 shots against, seeing his record on the 2021-22 WHL season slip to 1-3-0-0.

It was a milestone night for Tigers defenceman Josh Van Mulligen who played in his first career WHL game for his hometown club, while assistant captain Corson Hopwo dressed for his 150th career regular season game.

A turnaround will be needed for Medicine Hat on Saturday night, as they head up the road to take on the Prince Albert Raiders at 7:00 pm.