Tigers pepper Anders with shots, snag a point in overtime loss to Rebels

However, special teams were a struggle for the boys in black and orange as they were 0-for-5 on the power play and allowed a pair of Red Deer goals on the penalty kill.

“Our kill was doing really good,” said forward Elijah Brown. “I think we only let in one goal before this game, so letting in two was a little tough. I know Joe [Frazer] is really taking pride in running our penalty kill, so that was tough. We had that 5-on-3 we needed to capitalize on and we couldn’t.”

Medicine Hat’s dynamic duo of Cole Sillinger and Ryan Chyzowski had a glorious chance on a two-on-one midway through the period, but Chyzowski shot ended up a touch too high.

With less than five minutes to play before the intermission it was the Rebels finding the back of the cage, as Jayden Grubbe centred the puck from behind the net for Jaxsen Wiebe. The first-year WHL’er make no mistake going five-hole on Mads Søgaard for his first of the year.

The Tigers came determined out of the intermission to tie it up however.

Just over a minute into the second period, defender Trevor Longo received a pass at the left face-off circle and fired a laser beam past Ethan Anders for his first goal of the campaign.

“I have to give all the credit to [Brown] and [Lockner],” said Longo. “They set the whole play up and I kind of had an open net, just had to finish it off.”

Red Deer’s Brett Davis was quick to answer back with a power play goal 3:39 into the period, deflecting off Tigers defenceman Parker Gavlas for the go-ahead marker.

Chyzowski was able to continue his red-hot play near the midway mark of the second after being sent on a partial breakaway, tying the game at 2-2 with his fourth point of the weekend.

A goal that turned heads on the Tigers bench.

“He fought a guy off at our blueline at the tail end of a penalty kill,” said Smith. “He popped the puck out, out-skated the Red Deer guys… strong move and finished on a really good goalie. Tonight, [Chyzowski] was really good.”

Medicine Hat came dangerously close to gaining their first lead of the game in the late stages of the frame with a number of point blank chances on the power play. Anders however, came up with some of his biggest stops of the night to keep it tied.

That set the stage for Red Deer’s second power play goal of the night, with Ethan Sakowich letting a lot wrist shot go for his second goal of the season with 36 seconds left before the intermission.

Anders saved a sure-fire goal in the opening minutes of the third frame, stoning a wide-open Brown with his stick on the goal line to keep the visitors in the lead.

“After one play he stoned me and I went up to him and was like, ‘You’re a pretty good goalie, I just wanted to let you know that,’” said Brown. “He really kept them in there.”

Fortunes changed for the Tigers with seven minutes remaining in regulation, as the Rebels were called for a glove hand in the crease which awarded Medicine Hat a penalty shot. Captain James Hamblin was chosen to take the shot and went glove side on Anders to knot up the score at 3-3 and send the Canalta Centre into a frenzy.

“From the start the pace was there from both teams, it was a really high-intensity game,” said Brown. “That third one from Jimmy you could just feel it on the bench like, ‘We’re going to win this game.’”

Needing overtime, Douglas was able to skate past Medicine Hat’s Parker Gavlas to get control of the puck with one hand on the stick.

With a quick flip, he was able to fool Søgaard and send fans to the exits less than 40 seconds into the extra period.

“It was a nice play that Douglas made on that goal and there’s not much you can do on that,” said Brown.

Anders was spectacular in the win for Red Deer with a 39-save performance, while Søgaard’s record dropped to 2-2-1 on the season with his 17 saves on the evening.

Smith said some nights you just run into a goaltender like Anders at the top of their game.

“It was going to take something like a penalty shot to beat him tonight let’s be honest,” he said. “He was really good. He was all over the place, he cut off some shots that looked like they were going in, he gobbled up rebounds, he deflected pucks to the side. He was their best player and he deserves all the credit for the two points tonight.”

Even though the team allowed two goals on the penalty kill for the first time this season, Smith added they’re nowhere close to hitting the special teams panic button.

“The power play did some good things tonight,” he added. “It has to be sharper, we do have to score… I don’t even know how many chances we had. The penalty kill for sure, they’ll take some responsibility as that’s the difference in the game. But, the PK is not to blame, they’ve been really, really good this year.”

Despite the loss, Medicine Hat was able to cap off the weekend with three out of a possible four points and sit second in the Central Division with a 4-2-1-0 record.

The Tigers continue their five-game home stand on Tuesday night, facing their first American opponent of the season in the Portland Winterhawks at 7:00 pm.

by Scott Roblin

Tigers pepper Anders with shots, snag a point in overtime loss to Rebels

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