Tigers defenceman Rhett Parsons (right) carrying the puck in Saturday's 6-5 loss on home ice to the Calgary Hitmen (Photo courtesy Randy Feere / Medicine Hat Tigers)

By Scott Roblin

Hitmen Hang On

Tigers late outburst falls one goal short in 6-5 loss to Calgary

Jan 29, 2022 | 10:55 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – As Logan Barlage shovelled the puck into the back of the Calgary Hitmen net with 28 seconds remaining, the Medicine Hat Tigers pulled within a single goal of a wild comeback.

Unfortunately for the hosts on Saturday night, that third period push would fall one goal short losing a wild 6-5 contest to the Hitmen.

Calgary’s Mason Finley scored with 5:26 left in regulation to extend the Hitmen lead to 6-2, a goal that remarkably stood up as the winner.

The Tigers’ late push came fast and furious over the final two minutes of play with a trio of goals over the span of just 69 seconds, however it was a sag defensively in the third period that proved to be their undoing on Saturday.

Owen MacNeil gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead midway through the first, seeing a Daniel Baker slap shot deflect to his stick in the slot and wiring his sixth of the season past Calgary rookie Ethan Buenaventura.

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Medicine Hat’s solid defensive play over the opening 20 minutes of play began to unravel in the second, as Brandon Whynott picked up a pass from Sean Tschigerl down low and tied up the game 5:40 into the middle frame for Calgary.

That was followed five minutes later by an Anton Yatsyshin snipe down the right side of the ice to give the Hitmen their first lead of the game 2-1.

Calgary needed only two minutes of time in the third period to extend their lead to 3-1 on a four-minute power play with Teague Patton in the box, as Zac Funk carved his way through Medicine Hat’s defence for the pretty power play marker.

Funk’s highlight-reel goal was followed up by a pair of goals from Blake Stevenson and Anton Astashevich over the coming minutes to put Calgary comfortably ahead 5-1 and chase Garin Bjorklund for the third time in four games.

Playing in his first home game since being acquired by the Tigers, Logan Barlage was able to cut into that deficit with his second goal as a member of the black and orange with under six minutes left in regulation.

Medicine Hat’s defence continued to flatten however, as Finley was allowed to walk into the attacking zone less than 20 seconds later and put an innocuous shot past Beckett Langkow for the 6-2 marker and his first career goal in the WHL.

The Tigers’ late barrage began with 1:37 left on the clock as Rhett Parsons let his third of the season go from the right face-off dot past Buenaventura.

A Patton backdoor tap-in 19 seconds after Parsons’ goal began to raise some eyebrows at Co-Op Place, before Barlage added his second of the game with 28 seconds left to pull the Tigers to within a single goal.

The clock ultimately proved to be the enemy for Medicine Hat though, as they were unable to get past Calgary’s defence in the final seconds of play with the Hitmen hanging on for the win.

Bjorklund’s night ended with eight minutes left in regulation stopping 23 of the 28 shots he faced, while Langkow allowed one of the two shots he saw.

It’s back to the drawing board for the Tigers on Sunday night meanwhile, playing host to the Red Deer Rebels at 6:00 pm.