By Scott Roblin

Tigers earn fifth straight win over ICE, Bjorklund stays undefeated

Jan 4, 2019 | 9:23 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Nothing seems to be slowing down the Medicine Hat Tigers these days, extending their season-high win streak to five games with a 5-3 victory Friday over the Kootenay ICE.

After seeing their two goal lead vanish midway through the second period, Medicine Hat netted a pair shortly after to secure rookie Garin Bjorklund’s second career WHL victory.

Hayden Ostir needed just 11 minutes to open the scoring against the struggling ICE, sniping his ninth goal of the season past Kootenay netminder Jesse Makaj.

Medicine Hat held onto that 1-0 lead through the first intermission, adding another goal 1:43 into the second period from a Josh Williams redirect for his first goal in six contests.

However, the ICE were able to work the puck on the power play seven minutes later and got a tip from Austin Schellenberg to put the visitors on the board.

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That was followed up by a two-on-one rush from Kootenay during some four-on-four action, finished off by former Tiger Jaeger White to tie the game at 2-2 with 9:11 left in the second.

Bending but not breaking, the Tigers regrouped minutes later to post back-to-back goals to take a 4-2 lead.

Ryan Chyzowski kicked things off with his 14th of the season and fourth point against the ICE this week alone, while Tyler Preziuso fired home a rebound one minute later to extend his point streak to five games.

A more desperate Kootenay team upped their attack in the third period with 13 shots on Bjorklund, getting one past the 16-year-old with White adding his second of the night with 2:07 left in regulation to pull within one.

Preziuso put a quick stop to any ICE comeback attempt 30 seconds later though, picking up the puck in the neutral zone and launching it into the open net for the late insurance goal.

Assisting on Preziuso’s first goal of the game, James Hamblin extended his season-high point streak to 10 games while Preziuso had his second multi-goal performance of the year.

Making his second career WHL start, Bjorklund was steady between the pipes for Medicine Hat with a 29-save showing to improve his career record to 2-0-0-0 with a .909 save percentage.

Extending their win streak to five games, the Tigers have now won nine of their last ten games and have moved out of the first Eastern Conference wildcard spot into third place in the Central Division with a 22-15-1-2 record.

Medicine Hat will be placed on the national stage on Saturday afternoon, looking to keep their win streak alive against the Calgary Hitmen at 1:30 pm on a nationally televised game on Sportsnet.