Big win leads to 3- 1 series lead over Ice
Calgary returning home up 3- 1 after emphatic 7- 2 victory
Connor Rankin didn’t like the fact that he missed the 2014 post- season due to injury.
Now healthy, the 20- year- old left- winger has proven to be a difference- maker for the Calgary Hitmen in their opening- round playoff series against the Kootenay Ice.
Rankin followed up a two- assist performance in Calgary’s 8- 7 overtime win over Kootenay on Tuesday in Cranbrook, B. C., with his first- career playoff hat trick to lead the Hitmen to a 7- 2 win over the Ice at Western Financial Place on Wednesday.
“There’s nothing like it,” Rankin said before the series started of how much he enjoys playoff hockey. “It’s two teams battling for their lives. Especially for me, this is my last year. There’s nothing left to hold back.”
Thanks to their third- straight victory, the Hitmen now have a 3- 1 lead over the Ice in the best ofseven Western Hockey League Round 1 series. Game 5 is slated to take place back in Calgary at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Friday night ( 7 p. m., Shaw TV, SN960).
“With a different team this year, we have the mindset that we can win anywhere,” Rankin said after his first- star performance on Wednesday. “We definitely proved it tonight, winning back- to- back games here and having the chance to win the series on Friday night on home ice, so we definitely put ourselves in a good spot.”
Hitmen head coach Mark French was pleased to see Rankin break out in a big way.
“He’s been a real important part of this team all year, both offensively and defensively and from a leadership standpoint,” French said. “I think a lot of people were pulling for him to come through.”
After scoring back- to- back overtime goals in Calgary on Sunday and in Cranbrook two nights later, Adam Tambellini continued his strong play with three assists and an empty- net goal.
One night after scoring once and setting up four others, Sanheim had a goal and an assist on Wednesday, while Kenton Helgesen scored twice.
After making eight saves to pick up the win in a relief appearance of Mack Shields on Tuesday, goalie Brendan Burke stopped 28 of 30 shots he faced one night later to earn his second- straight victory.
Jaedon Descheneau and Tyler King scored for the Ice, while goalie Wyatt Hoflin finished with 33 saves as his playoff record dropped to 1- 3.
“We really keyed on their top guys and didn’t give them too much time and space,” Sanheim said. “That’s what we need to do against those guys, and get in their face and shut them down like that. I thought we did a good job defensively tonight and we were rewarded with the offence.”
After scoring at 1: 12 of overtime one night earlier, Tambellini set up the game’s first goal on Wednesday by Rankin just 72 seconds into the first period.
The Hitmen went up 2- 0 at the midway mark of the opening frame when Sanheim fired a juicy rebound past Hoflin, who made the initial save to deny Jake Virtanen from scoring his first goal of the 2015 post- season.
Hoflin later made a nice shoulder save to stop a shot by Virtanen, who finished the game with a pair of assists.
Descheneau scored his third goal of the series late in the first before Burke made a great glove grab to snag a shot fired his way by Kootenay defenceman Tyler King early in the second to keep Calgary up by a goal.
King blasted a point shot past Burke at 8: 39 of the final frame before Tambellini and Helgesen scored late unassisted markers to ice the Ice.
ICE CHIPS: Hitmen defenceman Jake Bean missed his third consecutive game with a lower- body injury he sustained in Game 1 of the series, a 4- 3 loss in Calgary last Friday ... Defenceman Keegan Kanzig finished with a team- leading plus- four rating on Wednesday and leads the Hitmen at plus- six through four playoff games.