Tigers fall in overtime
Tigers dominate Wheaties but fall in overtime
The Brandon Wheat Kings made the most of their limited opportunities on Saturday at the Canalta Centre.
While the Medicine Hat Tigers tilted the ice in their favour by controlling the majority of the action and outshooting Brandon by a staggering 34-14 margin, a few timely tallies were all the Wheat Kings needed to escape with a 4-3 overtime victory.
Tigers captain Mark Rassell made franchise history when he notched his 100th career goal to force overtime with 38 seconds left in the third — becoming just the 31st Tiger to achieve the feat — but Cole Reinhardt spoiled the party in sudden death.
“(Ryan) Jevne ripped one and it just hit me in the foot and goes in. I was more excited about tying the game up, but then after a couple seconds I realized it was No. 100 so I asked someone to get the puck,” said Rassell, whose Tigers hold a four-point lead over the Lethbridge Hurricanes for the top of the Central Division. “It was a good game. Obviously we hate to lose in OT but any night we can get a point we'll take it, especially with the tight playoff race we're in.”
While Brandon struck for the early lead when Stelio Mattheos beat Tigers affiliate goaltender Kaeden Lane — making his first WHL start with Michael Bullion out due to illness — with a wrist shot through traffic, Jevne pounced on a late power play chance to draw even through 20 minutes with his 17th goal of the year and his fifth in six games.
Medicine Hat continued to push the pace into the second. Although they were unable to solve Wheaties goaltender Dylan Myskiw on their 12 shots in the frame, the Tigers hemmed Brandon into their own end for the majority of the scoreless period.
Despite Medicine Hat’s efforts to limit the number of chances and odd-man rushes Brandon put toward their rookie netminder — holding the Wheat Kings to just nine shots in the opening 40 minutes — Reinhardt stepped up to steal back the lead in the third.
The 18-year-old winger broke in on a 2-on-1 with Baron Thompson and snapped a tape-to-tape feed past Lane to regain the lead and push the Tigers back onto their heels just five minutes into the third.
While Medicine Hat looked poised to draw even when Reinhardt was nabbed for goaltender interference five minutes later, Wheat Kings winger Evan Weinger quickly stretched the lead to a pair and silenced the crowd of 3,226 with a shorthanded breakaway goal.
But the Tigers refused to go quietly. First David Quenneville connected with a blistering point shot to cut Brandon’s lead back to one, then Rassell scored his 100th to set up the fourth trip to overtime in their four-game season series.
“There wasn't really a loss of hope. We knew we were still in it and we just had to keep going,” said Jevne. “We went out there and battled. Losing in overtime sucks but it's good to get that point ... This time of year every point matters.”
The Tigers nearly stole away the game when Ryan Chyzowski appeared to score at the buzzer, but a review determined the puck did not cross the line in time — then Reinhardt stole away the game in overtime to snap Medicine Hat’s threegame winning steak with their first loss at the Canalta Centre since Jan. 26.
“I thought we did a lot of good things today,” said Wheat Kings assistant coach Don MacGillivray. “Medicine Hat has a good record at home and we came in here and got two points. It doesn't really matter at this time of year how you get them, we just need to find a way to get wins.”
Myskiw stopped 31 shots to lock up the victory and push Brandon to 32-24-32 on the season. Lane took the loss on 10 saves, dropping the Tigers to 31-24-8-0.
“It was an interesting game. There was a breakaway, there was almost a 2-on-0 and that last goal which was a tip right under the bar,” Tigers head coach Shaun Clouston said of Lane’s outing. “When you look at it, it doesn't really look great but we can't fault him much.”
“I'd obviously like to have a couple of them back and get the win for the boys, but there's nothing I can do now, I'll just move on,” added Lane. “It was definitely a great opportunity and I'll remember it for a long time.”
The Tigers head north to Edmonton for Tuesday’s hockey hooky game against the Oil Kings (18-36-6-2) at 11:30 a.m.
“I hear there's kids screaming the whole time,” Rassell said of the hockey hooky game, which will fill Rogers Place with students from the Edmonton area. “Edmonton is really good with getting their young fans out and they're very loud.”