By Mitch Bach

Tigers sneak past Hitmen for sixth-straight win

Dec 29, 2016 | 1:30 PM

CALGARY — The Medicine Hat Tigers managed to sneak away from Calgary with their sixth win in a row on Wednesday.

Taking on the Calgary Hitmen in the second game of a home-and-home series, the Tigers withstood a late surge from the Hitmen to come away with a 3-2 win at the Scotiabank Saddledome in front of more than 9,000 fans.

Gary Haden and Zack Fischer got the scoring started for the Tigers in the first period. Haden, who calls Airdrie home, said scoring a goal in the Saddledome was a special moment for him.

“It was something else,” he said. “I grew up going to Hitmen games for many years, I had season tickets…I think I had 133 friends and family members there. Even just to score too, it was kind of nuts.

It was just perfect. It was my second shift or something, I managed to go to the net and get a greasy one.”

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Defenceman. David Quenneville notched his 20th of the season on Hitmen goalie Cody Porter to give his team the lead.

The Hitmen swapped out Porter for Kyle Dumba following the goal, who stopped the remainder of Tigers’ shots during the game.

Beck Malenstyn and Jordy Stallard scored for the Hitmen in the third period to give the Tigers a scare in the final moments of the game, but Nick Schneider was able to keep the door closed.

Schneider made 40 saves through the game for his 25th win of the season.

“They’ve been huge,” said Schneider. “At this time of the year, every time you get a win it’s important… Every game matters, and we’re going to go into every game with that mindset.”

The Tigers say the atmosphere following the team’s two wins following the Christmas break is positive.

“I think those were two big wins coming back from Christmas,” he said.

“We’ve won six in a row, but it’s been kind of quiet, with the second half of the season around the corner,” added Quenneville. “We got off to a good start, two big wins for us, and two wins where our habits were a lot better than they were.

“For us, it means building on those habits, and it will lead to a good second half.”

The Tigers play their final game of 2016 on Friday, hosting the Lethbridge Hurricanes at the Canalta Centre at 7:30 p.m.