Tigers eager to bounce back

It was a night that got away from them in more ways than one, but Medicine Hat Tigers head coach Shaun Clouston says they’ll be turning the page after having a hard look at their mistakes.

While Medicine Hat made it through Friday’s 4-0 win to open the series without taking a penalty, Clouston admits his players gave into some undisciplined moments Saturday night in Game 2 — and most ended up costing the Tigers dearly in an eventual 7-4 loss.

“We got involved in the chirping and chattering, we took an unsportsmanlike. The margin for error is very slim when you play a team as talented and opportunistic as Lethbridge. They’ve got some guys who can really snipe and they showed that,” said Clouston, adding it will be important to quickly learn from the game then shift the focus to the future. “I think that’s going to be really important. We have to get a better focus.

“But we’ve done a great job in the past of rebounding after getting away from things.”

Medicine Hat’s most glaring error in Saturday’s loss came on a too many men on the ice infraction in the third period — paving the way for Giorgio Estephan’s game-winning goal.

“Obviously it was a big error on the line change. We had one guy coming to bench and a guy jumped on the ice and the guys coming to the bench turned and played the puck. That’s always dangerous, when you kind of change your mind, and that hurt us.”

While Tigers enforcer Zach Fischer said it was one of many frustrating moments in the loss — as a series of turnovers led to two consecutive goals on odd-man rushes while a handful of questionable penalty calls kept the Tigers agitated all evening long — he added they can’t get caught dwelling on the past.

“You can’t dwell on those thoughts. Come (Sunday) morning you’ve got to think of the future,” said Fischer. “It was a tough one to swallow, especially when the calls weren’t going the way you want, or the bounces.”

Tigers captain Clayton Kirichenko said Saturday’s setback should serve as a reminder to remain even keeled and stick to the game plan — which brought the team five consecutive wins to open the post-season.

“We’ll take a quick look at it but we have to be shortminded and learn from it,” said Kirichenko. “Just turn the page.”