Never back down never what?
That was the mantra Friday night for the Medicine Hat Tigers who erased a three-goal third period deficit to defeat the Lethbridge Hurricanes 6-5 in overtime.
The game began with a bang.
In the opening seconds, the Tigers had a 2-on-1 rush that Hurricanes netminder Jackson Unger saved.
The remainder of the first period would fly by, taking just 24 minutes to complete.
Amidst the free-flowing action, Medicine Hat goaltender Harrison Meneghin made a series of sensational toe saves to keep the game scoreless.
Medicine Hat would find themselves on the powerplay in the opening frame but failed to capitalize on the chance.
The first ended as it began, scoreless through twenty minutes.
Period two began and it would be Lethbridge who came out of the gate hot, breaking the scoreless tie 1:12 in.
Hurricanes captain Noah Chadwick broke down the right side of the Tigers zone, drove past Niilopekka Muhonen, and tucked the puck past the pad of Meneghin to get the ‘Canes on the board first.
Under forty seconds later, Lethbridge would double their lead.
Kooper Gizowski finished off a tic-tac-toe play to extend the Hurricane lead to 2-0.
The Tigers wasted little time responding.
Under a minute later Liam Ruck tapped home his own tic-tac-toe goal to shrink the deficit to one with his 23rd of the season.
Gavin McKenna assisted on the goal, extending his point streak to a whopping 37 games, tying Sidney Crosby for the 2nd longest point streak in the CHL since the turn of the century.
Another way to put that, he’s pretty good at hockey.
The Tigers would get another opportunity minutes later when a bouncing puck popped out in front of Oasiz Wiesblatt at the side of the Lethbridge net but rolled off his stick before he could tap it home.
Moments after, the Tigers would head shorthanded and the Hurricanes would extend their lead back to two with Miguel Marques’ 12th of the season.
Medicine Hat would push back but failed to crack Unger, entering the second intermission trailing 3-1.
Entering the game, Lethbridge was 24-0-0-0 when leading through forty minutes.
That undefeated streak would be snapped with a furious third-period comeback from the Tigers.
Despite that, the third didn’t start well for the Tigers.
In a case of deja vu, Lethbridge again scored 1:12 into the period off a defensive zone turnover.
Kooper Gizowski would capitalize with his second goal of the night, extending the Lethbridge lead to three for the first time.
Trailing 4-1, Medicine Hat would score the game’s next four goals in a 6:51 span to take a 5-4 lead.
The comeback began off the stick of Tanner Molendyk.
Molendyk drove down the left wing of the Lethbridge zone and lifted a shot above the shoulder of Unger to shrink the Tiger deficit back to two.
A little under ninety seconds later, the Tigers would get back within one off the stick of Gavin McKenna.
McKenna shoveled home the rebound off a Veeti Vaisanen point shot for his 34th of the season getting the Cats within striking distance.
Three minutes later, the Tigers would draw level.
Oasiz Wiesblatt sniped a wrist shot above the shoulder of Unger to square the game at four and stun the crowd inside the VisitLethbridge.com Arena.
Medicine Hat wasn’t finished.
Just before the halfway mark of the period, the Tigers took the lead for the first time.
Ethan Neutens stepped into a wrist shot at the right point of the Hurricane zone and the puck deflected off Tigers forward Kadon McCann and in.
After trailing 4-1 three minutes into the third, the Medicine Hat Tigers scored four goals in under seven minutes to take a 5-4 lead.
A remarkable comeback, but the job wasn’t finished and Lethbridge wouldn’t go away quietly.
With just over 6:30 left in the game, the Hurricanes would tie the game at five with Miguel Marques’ second goal of the night.
The two teams would trade chances in the final minutes of regulation, but neither would capitalize and for the first time this season, the Tigers and Hurricanes headed to overtime.
Almost two minutes into the extra frame, Oasiz Wiesblatt put a bow on the Tigers’ comeback with a wrist shot that beat Jackson Unger to secure the Tigers a thrilling 6-5 win.
The win extends Medicine Hat’s win streak to seven games and keeps them neck-in-neck with the Calgary Hitmen for the division and conference title.
The regular season finale between the Hurricanes and Tigers goes next Saturday, March 22nd in Medicine Hat.
Medicine Hat (44-17-3-1) is back in action tomorrow night inside Co-op Place when they take on the Red Deer Rebels (26-30-6-2) for the final time this season.
