It’s our house. Period.
Bullion gets shutout, Tigers don’t take a single penalty in Game 1 win
The Medicine Hat Tigers celebrate John Dahlstrom’s opening goal Friday in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Lethbridge Hurricanes at the Canalta Centre while the crowd reacts behind the glass. Medicine Hat took Game 1 4-0. Game 2 is set for Saturday, 7:30 p.m. at the Canalta Centre.
The Medicine Hat Tigers made a ferocious opening statement Friday night at the Canalta Centre.
Four Tabbies lit the lamp and Michael Bullion stopped all 16 shots he faced to push the Tigers to a commanding 4-0 Game 1 shutout of the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the WHL’s Eastern Conference semifinals.
Bullion says it all boils down to work ethic.
“Our team wanted to work today,” said Bullion. “They’re an elite team, they’re really good at what they do but I think today our team just decided to work as hard as they could and if we keep on doing that it’ll definitely help us a lot down the stretch.”
The Tigers spent the evening without taking a single penalty, and Hurricanes head coach Brent Kisio says it’s evidence that his team needs to put in a stronger effort in order to even the series before returning home to Lethbridge.
“We’ve got to play harder,” said Kisio. “Medicine Hat outworked us, and when they out-work us they’re going to get the calls.”
Tigers head coach and general manager Shaun Clouston added his team showcased some very strong discipline through the roughand-tumble contest, and he hopes to see it continue with the series.
“We always want to play disciplined, that’s the goal of every hockey team I’m sure, but the guys did a really good job,” said Clouston. “I thought there were a few stretches in there where the blood was boiling a little bit but we didn’t step into the retaliation stuff that usually gets called.”
While Hurricanes goaltender Stuart Skinner kept the Tigers on their toes in the face of a commanding first period, John Dahlstrom finally managed to break through his defences on a juicy rebound — pushing the Swedish forward’s playoff point streak to five games.
Medicine Hat outshot Lethbridge 10-4 in the opening frame, while holding the offensive zone for the vast majority of the period. That didn’t change with the onset of the second.
While Lethbridge did manage a golden opportunity off a defensive lapse early in the middle frame, Bullion was ready and waiting to shut it down. The highlight reel save quickly paved the way for an odd-man rush, and Chad Butcher made the Canes pay.
The overage forward finished off a cross-crease pass from Zach Fischer to give the Tigers some breathing room while earning some vengeance after having his eyebrow split open by Tanner Nagel’s stick in the first period.
“It doesn’t feel good, but working through it and playing hard with the team it starts to feel a bit better,” said Butcher. “We know the way we need to play and tonight we executed that pretty well.”
The Hurricanes dug in their heels and mustered a strong pushback effort to close out the second, testing Bullion seven times in the frame. But after holding the Tigers zone for the longest consecutive stretch in the contest, Medicine Hat made the Hurricanes pay again.
Steven Owre marched down the ice and beat Skinner clean from the high slot to send the crowd of 4,580 into a feverish celebration while leaving the ’Canes buried in a 3-0 hole through 40 minutes.
“The fans were definitely going. Even having the Lethbridge fans there creates that special rivalry,” said Bullion. “Our fans were absolutely fantastic tonight and it’s pretty apparent that they just keep getting better.”
Hurricanes forward Zane Franklin throw discipline to the wind at the end of the second by taking a run at Tigers blueliner David Quenneville. The play resulted in Lethbridge opening the third on a penalty kill. While Lethbridge killed it off, the start seemed to leave them on their heels for the remainder of the period, and Zach Fischer eventually put the game away in the final minutes off a cross-crease pass from Butcher.
Skinner stood on his head with 13 stops in the third for a total of 33, but the Hurricanes were unable to provide any real offensive support and will face an uphill climb in the series as a result.
The Tigers and Hurricanes go back at it for Game 2 Saturday night at the Canalta Centre. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m.