Home team takes two-game series lead
The Medicine Hat Tigers will load up the bus with a 2-0 lead in their Eastern Conference quarter-final series against the Brandon Wheat Kings following another dominant performance Sunday at the Canalta Centre.
Mark Rassell recorded four points and Elijah Brown added three to lead the Tigers to an emphatic 7-3 victory over the Wheaties, leaving Brandon on their heels with the series shifting to Dauphin, Man. Tuesday.
“I’m just trying to enjoy the last ride I have here as a Tiger in my 20-year-old season and final playoff push,” said Rassell, who has seven points in his first two playoff games. “Everyone says when I’m having fun I’m playing my best so I’m just trying to have some fun and I think I’m playing pretty well right now.”
The Wheat Kings had the early momentum, but Tigers centre Ryan Chyzowski flipped the script in Medicine Hat’s favour by handcuffing Brandon starter Logan Thompson — who was pulled from Game 1 after allowing six goals on 18 shots — with a shot that rolled off the lip of his glove and into the net.
A few minutes later Thompson went to play a puck behind the net and fanned on a pass, leading to a turnover and resulting in David Quenneville’s first goal of the playoffs.
“From top to bottom, all lines were going,” said Brown, who has been centering the top line with Rassell and Bryan Lockner. “We were all expecting a better Brandon team. Obviously they’re not just giving up but we came out of the gates flying.”
Rassell kept the good times rolling a few moments later when Wheaties winger Ty Lewis was sent to the bin for high sticking. The Hat captain stepped into a hard wrist shot from the slot and beat Thompson clean just 12 seconds into the power play — lifting the crowd of 2,943 to their feet at the end of the opening frame.
“He’s been effective all year,” Tigers head coach Shaun Clouston said of Rassell. “It usually gets a little bit tougher in the playoffs and we expect this series to get tougher the further we go but he’s been terrific for us and he’s off to a great start.”
The Wheat Kings brought a better effort to start the second and Markus Sekundiak put them on the board when he finished off an early goalmouth scramble, but Rassell quickly reset the three-goal lead by tucking a deke past Thompson 19 seconds later.
Brandon’s march to the penalty box continued when Cole Reinhardt was nabbed for roughing in the dying minutes of the second, and once again Medicine Hat’s power play unit acted fast. This time it only took 10 seconds for Jaeger White to find Brown on the doorstep for a tap-in goal, leaving the Tigers up by four after 40 minutes.
“Brown was in a good spot and you’ve got to find those seams on the power play,” said White. “That’s always a key part in playoffs, the special teams battle, so we’ve got to keep it up.”
Lewis tried to fire up his squad with a shorthanded breakaway goal early in the third period, but White responded in kind just over a minute later to break even on the power play and snuff out any hope for a comeback.
Sekundiak added his second of the evening at the midway point of the third, but Josh Williams struck with 91 seconds left to push the game out of reach.
“We know what we’ve got to do to get better and hopefully we can work it out in Game 3,” said Sekundiak, adding their third-period effort is something to build on.
“We’re just being harder on pucks and getting them behind the D. That’s where we have our most success, down low.”
Thompson took the loss on 30 saves, but left the ice with five minutes left in the third for an undisclosed injury. Dylan Myskiw stopped two of three in relief.
Tigers goaltender Jordan Hollett finished with 23 saves.
Game 3 is slated for Tuesday night in Dauphin at 6:30 p.m.