Tigers win wild one in Moose Jaw

Ryan Jevne pulled out the overtime heroics on Wednesday night at Mosaic Place.

The overage winger scored his second of the night on a sudden-death power play to send the Medicine Hat Tigers to a wild 6-5 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors on a night that featured more than 90 shots on goal.

“It was fortunate that we were able to get the power play goal when it mattered. It was a real big moment for us,” said Tigers head coach Shaun Clouston. “They were a resiliant team. They played catch-up for the whole game and finally caught us in the third period.”

The Tigers found themselves in early penalty trouble when Cole Clayton was nabbed for a high sticking double-minor seven minutes into the first, and Warriors defenceman Jett Woo converted on the chance by banking a shot off Hat goaltender Jordan Hollett and into the net.

Tigers blueliner Joel Craven took it upon himself to even things up three minutes later when he picked up a pass from Hollett behind his own net then carried it all the way down into the offensive zone and beat Warriors goaltender Adam Evanoff for his first of the season.

Riding some new momentum, Medicine Hat hemmed the Warriors in their own end and Jevne stole the lead away by beating Evanoff on a wrist shot from the slot with six minutes left in the opening frame.

The rally continued five minutes later when Ryan Chyzowski rang a shot off the post and Daniel Baker poked in the rebound for the first goal of his Western Hockey League career.

The Warriors still managed to push back before the break thanks to a rebound goal from Luke Orsmby with 16 seconds left on the clock, sending the teams to the dressing rooms after exchanging 38 shots through 20 minutes.

Tyler Preziuso doubled up Medicine Hat’s lead again two minutes into the middle frame by deflecting a shot from Baker past Evanoff — Baker’s third point of the night.

“He’s a real good player,” Clouston said of Baker. “He’s coming along and getting bettter. He’s showing a little bit more confidence with the puck.”

The back-and-forth trend continued in power play fashion with three straight goals on the man advantage. First Moose Jaw’s Tristin Langan beat Hollett on a one-timer with Corson Hopwo in the box for hooking, then Tigers captain James Hamblin deflected a point shot from Linus Nassen into the net with Kjell Kjemhus serving a holding minor before Warriors captain Josh Brook cut the deficit back down to one with Clayton off for tripping.

Keenan Taphorn finally knotted the game back up four minutes into the third period when he chipped a rebound over Hollett on the backhand, but the Warriors were unable to find a go-ahead marker and Jevne put the game away in overtime with Langan serving a tripping minor.

“We weren’t great on the kill, but we got a big kill late in the game,” said Clouston. “That got us into the overtime and then on the power play we were able to win it.”

Hollett stopped 40 to collect the victory and push Medicine Hat to 14-14-1-2 on the season.

Evanoff took the loss on 40 saves, dropping Moose Jaw to 15-6-4-1. Woo finished with four points.

The Tigers return to the Canalta Centre to host the Regina Pats Saturday at 7:30 p.m.