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Hamblin scores twice as Tigers crush ‘Canes 5-1

Mar 17, 2017 | 9:53 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB — Tuesday night’s third period collapse is cleary a thing of the past for the Medicine Hat Tigers.

James Hamblin recorded his second multi-goal performance in three games, John Dahlstrom became the fifth Tabby to reach the 30-goal mark, and the Tigers took out the Lethbridge Hurricanes 5-1 on Friday night.

This is Medicine Hat’s 50th win of the season, who now sport a 50-20-1-0 record this season. Only the Regina Pats match the Tigers victory total after a win over the Brandon Wheat Kings tonight. 

The last time the Tigers reached the 50-win mark was in the 2006-07 season, which is also the last time they won the Central Division banner and their fifth WHL Championship.

Medicine Hat’s penalty kill was terrific, stopping the ‘Canes on all eight opportunities through the game.

Dahlstrom opened the scoring with his 30th goal of the season on the powerplay 12:52 into the game. He joins Mark Rassell, Matt Bradley, Zach Fischer and Max Gerlach who’ve also recorded 30+ goals.

Hamblin scored his first of two on the night late in the opening frame, giving the Tigers a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes of play. The 17-year old has now recorded four goals and seven points in his last five games.

It took Butcher 3:30 of second period play to increase the Tabbies lead to three. Butcher tacked on two helpers in the victory and in doing so recorded his 100th and 101st point of the season.

Ryan Bowen scored the lone tally for the Hurricanes, who fall to 44-20-4-3.

Mark Rassell’s team-leading 35th of the year rounded out the scoring for Medicine Hat. The 19-year-old continues to produce outstanding numbers this season after tacking 13 goals on the board last year.

Like many Highway 3 battles, there was no shortage of rough stuff. Matt Bradley was sent packing after incurring a five-minute major for spearing with four seconds left in the first. On top of this, the Surrey, B.C. product recieved a game-misconduct.

Michael Bullion rebounded sensationally after allowing four goals on 18 shots in Tuesday’s loss to Red Deer. The Tigers netminder turned aside 32 of 33 shots fired his way to improve his record to 16-5 since joining the team.

On the other end of the ice, Stuart Skinner stopped 37 shots in the loss

The win bumps Medicine Hat over the 100-point mark in the WHL standings. They’ve now accumulated 101 on the year, which is also the most since 2006-07 when they tallied 107 points.

Medicine Hat and Lethbridge will duke it out one last time on Saturday night, which will also decide the winner of the season series. Both teams sport a 3-3 record against each other. Game time at the Canalta Centre is 7:30 p.m.