Photo courtesy of Rob Wallator / Red Deer Rebels

By Scott Roblin

Special Teams Struggle

Third period flurry not enough for Tigers to overcome deficit in Red Deer

Dec 14, 2019 | 12:34 PM

RED DEER, AB – A furious third period comeback wasn’t enough for the Medicine Hat Tigers to overcome a five-goal deficit on Friday night, seeing their win streak grind to a halt against the Red Deer Rebels.

Struggles on special teams plagued the Tigers, with the Rebels capitalizing on four goals either on the power play or short handed in a 6-4 victory at Westerner Park Centrium.

Medicine Hat dominated the first period with 18 shots on Red Deer’s Byron Fancy, however the Rebels netminder turned everything aside as a Cameron Hausinger power play goal put the home side up 1-0 after 20 minutes.

The Rebels doubled their lead four minutes into the second period with Arshdeep Bains deking around Tigers captain James Hamblin and scoring his ninth of the season shorthanded.

That wouldn’t be Bains’ only shorthanded goal of the night, as the Rebels made work of a lackadaisical Medicine Hat power play to make it a 3-0 game three minutes later.

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Josh Tarzwell and Jayden Grubbe were able to cap off the period with goals of their own before the buzzer, giving the Rebels a commanding five-goal lead at the intermission.

Medicine Hat’s comeback attempt began with 12:34 remaining in regulation courtesy of Bryan Lockner, putting home a missed shot off the end boards by Cyle McNabb to cut the gap to four.

Corson Hopwo made it a 5-2 game with less than five minutes remaining off a pass from Hamblin, while the Tigers were finally able to silence their their special teams troubles with a power play goal shortly after.

A goal from Hamblin with 2:10 remaining gave Medicine Hat some life trailing by just one, however a Brett Davis empty-net goal would put a ribbon on a wild game for the Rebels.

Making his first WHL start, Evan Fradette had a rough go in the Tigers crease with five goals allowed on 24 shots against.

Fancy meanwhile earned his sixth victory of the season facing 43 Tigers shots, making 39 saves in the victory.

After outscoring their Saskatchewan opponents 19-7 over two games out east, Friday’s loss saw Medicine Hat slip to a 22-9-1-0 record and trail the Edmonton Oil Kings for first in the Central Division by four points.

The Tigers wrap up the first half of the WHL season at home on Saturday night in a heavyweight tilt against the Oil Kings in their final game before the Christmas break.

Game time at the Canalta Centre is scheduled for 7:30 pm.