By Scott Roblin

Tigers blow third period lead, settle for a point versus Thunderbirds

Feb 9, 2019 | 10:36 PM

SEATTLE, WA – The Medicine Hat Tigers were able to muscle a point out of the Seattle Thunderbirds on Saturday night, however they leave Washington likely wanting more.

Medicine Hat saw their 3-1 lead vanish midway through the third period against the Thunderbirds, ultimately dropping a 4-3 decision in overtime.

On the power play, James Hamblin opened the scoring 8:15 into the first period while also reaching the 30-goal plateau to give the Tigers an early lead.

It stayed a 1-0 Medicine Hat lead well into the second frame, but off a faceoff win by Seattle it was Andrej Kukuca crashing the net and beating Jordan Hollett to tie the game at 1-1 with eight minutes to go in the period.

Medicine Hat was able to jump back into the lead before the end of the period however, with Tyler Preziuso pulling the puck to his backhand and netting his 19th of the year for the visitors.

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Ryan Chyzowski helped extend the Tigers lead to 3-1 less than five minutes into the third frame, also scoring his 19th while Ryan Jevne contributed his third assist of the night.

Seattle began to charge back at the midway mark of the period, pulling themselves to within a goal off the tape of Kukuca for his second of the game to make it a 3-2 contest.

With the Tigers on their heels, the Thunderbirds were able to pot the equalizer from Noah Philp with 6:45 left in regulation to force overtime.

In the extra frame, Kukuca was able to fire a pass up the boards to Matthew Wedman, who pulled the puck to the backhand on a partial breakaway over the pad of Hollett to seal the victory for Seattle.

Jevne, Hamblin, and Linus Nassen all had multi-point game in the loss, which is Medicine Hat’s first in over a week with their last defeat coming on February 1 in Moose Jaw.

Hollett stopped 36 shots for the Tigers to see his record slip to 14-14-1 on the season, while Seattle’s Roddy Ross earned the victory with 27 saves.

Medicine Hat saw their three-game win streak snapped in the process, but were able to earn a point and sit just one point behind the Edmonton Oil Kings for first place in the Central Division.

Holding a 2-0-1 record on their western road swing, the Tigers will close out their week-long trip on Sunday night when they head to Portland, Oregon to tangle with the Winterhawks.