Tigers go winless through B.C. Division road trip with loss to Giants

The Medicine Hat Tigers watched another win slip away on Saturday night at the Langley Events Centre.

Vancouver Giants defenceman Alex Kannok Leipert broke open a tie game with three minutes left in regulation to send the Tigers home from their fourgame B.C. Division road trip without a victory in a 5-4 loss.

While the Tigers peppered Giants goaltender David Tendeck with 19 shots through the opening frame, Vancouver broke through on one of their 10 chances when Hat goaltender Jordan Hollett lost sight of a rebound and inadvertently knocked the puck into his own net — giving Giants centre Tyler Popowich his sixth goal of the year.

Medicine Hat continued generating momentum into the middle frame and Dalton Gally turned it into a tying goal when he stepped into a shot at the blue line and watched it take a deflection on its way past Tendeck.

While Vancouver’s Bowen Byram and Ty Ronning responded by beating Hollett on two highlight reel passing plays just 46 seconds apart, the Tigers rallied to knot the game back up with a pair of their own spanning just less than two minutes to close out the second period.

First Gary Haden beat a sprawling Tendeck to a rebound in the blue paint for his 13th of the year, then Elijah Brown followed it up by directing a pass from Jaeger White into the top corner to set up a winner-takeall third period.

Hollett left the game midway through the second after stopping Ronning on an odd-man rush. The 18-year-old Ottawa Senators draft pick was taken to the dressing room by Tigers trainer Mikki Lanuk and did not return to the game. He stopped 19 of 22 shots.

The Giants and Tigers traded goals again midway through the third period when Dawson Holt beat Bullion on a rebound nine minutes in, then Dylan MacPherson beat Tendeck with a point shot that bounced off a defender just over a minute later — but it was Kannok Leipert who finally gave Vancouver the lead they wouldn’t give up with just over three minutes left in regulation.

Bullion took the loss after making 15 saves in relief of Hollett, dropping the Tigers to 26-22-7-0 after collecting just one point on their four-game road trip. Tendeck collected the win on 38 stops to push Vancouver to 28-16-5-3.

The Tigers return home to the Canalta Centre on Wednesday to host the Edmonton Oil Kings (14-30-5-2) at 7 p.m.