Tigers fall short in shot-for-shot showdown

The Medicine Hat Tigers refused to go away quietly on Friday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome, but the Calgary Hitmen sent them home empty-handed all the same.

Calgary and Medicine Hat traded markers five consecutive times before James Malm finally drove home the game-winner with just over a minute left in regulation to open the weekend’s home-and-home set with a 7-5 Hitmen victory.

The Hitmen took an early lead just 40 seconds into the first when Vladislav Yeryomenko threw a puck on net from the sideboards and watched it bounce off a defender and past Tigers goaltender Mads Søgaard for his first goal of the year.

Calgary continued to push the pace in Medicine Hat’s end, but Søgaard settled into his crease and Eric Van Impe knotted the game up on a wrist shot from the point 12 minutes later.

However any momentum gained by the tying tally was immediately snuffed out when Van Impe was nabbed for holding 24 seconds after his goal and Mark Kastelic converted on the ensuing penalty to take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission. Kastelic’s marker went to video review to determine if the puck had been directed into the net with a high stick, but the goal stood as the Calgary captain’s 13th of the year.

The Tigers pushed back early in the second period when Hitmen defenceman Egor Zamula was sent to the box for tripping and Hayden Ostir converted seven seconds into the advantage to even things back up.

The back-and-forth trend continued when Tye Carriere re-established Calgary’s narrow lead just before the halfway point of the period, then Dylan MacPherson answered back for Medicine Hat with his first of the year one minute later. But Zamula responded in kind yet again to leave the Tigers staring down another deficit after 40 minutes.

Tyler Preziuso found another equalizer for Medicine Hat when he jammed a rebound past Hitmen goaltender Carl Stankowski on a twoman advantage early in the third. The marker extended Preziuso’s point streak to eight games, pushed James Hamblin’s streak to seven and stood as Ryan Jevne’s 100th career WHL point.

Calgary pushed their way back out in front again halfway through the third when Jake Kryski bounced a puck off a defender and into the net, but like clockwork Cole Clayton erased the lead by sneaking a wrist shot through Stankowski three minutes later.

While the Tigers pressured for their first lead of the night, Malm pushed it out of sight one last time with just over a minute remaining. The Tigers Søgaard looking for yet another way back, but the trend was finally snapped when Kastelic hit the empty net for his second of the night.

Stankowski turned away 27 shots to lock up the victory and push Calgary to 5-9-2-0 on the season.

Søgaard took the loss on 33 saves, dropping Medicine Hat to 8-6-0-2.

The Tigers and Hitmen close out their homeand-home set Sunday at the Canalta Centre. The puck drops at 6 p.m.