Tigers double up on Wheat Kings

Bryce Pickford scored three times as the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers won their eighth game in a row, handing the Brandon Wheat Kings a 6-3 defeat in Western Hockey League action at Assiniboine Credit Union Place on Wednesday.

Medicine Hat (44-9-5-3) received its other goals from Andrew Basha, Noah Davidson and Markus Ruck, with Nick Johnson scoring twice and Luke Mistelbacher sniping once for Brandon (35-24-1-0) in front of a crowd of 2,477.

“I thought we were a little dead through the entire game,” Johnson said. “I think the energy in the entire building felt a little low but I don’t think that’s an excuse. We have to show up for every single game and every single shift. We have to be better at consistency.”

With Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray serving a one-game suspension for Filip Ruzicka’s fight after the final buzzer against the Regina Pats last Friday, assistant coaches Mark Derlago and Del Pedrick took over behind the bench.

“That’s a tough game,” Derlago said. “They’re a good team and with a high-octane offence and a lot of key players you have to key on and I don’t think we did a great job of slowing them down tonight.”

Medicine Hat took an early lead five minutes 52 seconds into the opening period during the game’s first power play when Pickford’s low shot eluded Ruzicka.

Two minutes later, Ryan Boyce found Johnson with a stretch pass and the veteran beat Medicine Hat goalie Jordan Switzer to tie it, but the high-scoring Tigers regained the lead just over a minute later when Basha made a highlight reel move on Brandon overage defenceman Grayson Burzynski and fired home his 13th goal in 25 games since being returned from the American Hockey League.

The high point of the game for the hosts came before the period ended. Johnson scored his 20th of the season on a terrific pass off the rush by Brady Turko when the Anaheim Ducks prospect spun and found him all alone in the slot at the 17:52 mark.

“Turks made a helluva play,” Johnson said. “That spin-a-rama move to me right on the tape, that’s hard to do. It takes a skilled player. It was a really good play by him and I had to bury that one.”

Off the ensuing faceoff, Brandon broke back in and Mistelbacher put the puck between the legs of Switzer to give Brandon its first lead. The goals came just nine seconds apart.

The second period was all Tigers as the Wheat Kings were outshot 18-10 for the second period in a row.

The Tigers tied the game on their second power play when Pickford’s sharp-angle shot somehow got through Ruzicka for the defenceman’s 40th goal of the season.

Brandon had a glorious chance to respond at the 6:46 mark when Medicine Hat forward Kadon McCann was handed a double minor for slew footing, but the Wheat Kings gave up as much as they created, which wasn’t a lot.

The Tigers took control in the final six minutes of the middle frame.

On a broken play, Davidson put the Tigers back in the lead when Liam Ruck shovelled a pass into the slot from the corner and he beat Ruzicka, and then Pickford scored on a one-timer just after a power play ended for his hat-trick goal and a 5-3 Medicine Hat lead.

Brandon had a 70-second, five-on-three man advantage to start the third period, but Switzer made a series of terrific saves to defend the two-goal lead.

Ruzicka kept his team in the game with a great save on Marcus Ruck on a breakaway with six minutes left, but with Brandon’s net empty and 19.1 seconds left, Ruck found the back of the net to put the game away.

Medicine Hat head coach Willie Desjardins said his group played well.

“We were pretty resilient,” Desjardins said. “I thought our special teams were great. Brandon has a really explosive team, they’re really hard to control, but I thought we hung in there and I thought we got some really big saves from our goalie.”

Ruzicka made 48 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Switzer stopping 26 shots for the Tigers. Brandon had made a habit of giving up a lot of shots lately, something Johnson said is a real concern.

“Especially when you’ll down to one goalie, you don’t want to be giving up 50 shots-plus every game,” Johnson said. “That’s something we need to work on internally and figure it out.”

Brandon went 0-for-4 on the power play, with Medicine Hat scoring twice in four chances.

“Special teams was a huge difference,” Derlago said. “They scored on the power play and we didn’t. It was a huge five-on-three to start the third period and we built a little momentum off it but essentially you have to score a goal there.’

ICINGS: Brandon skated without injured D Merrek Arpin, D Dylan Ronald, F Easton Odut, F Carter Klippenstein, F Caleb Hadland, F Joby Baumuller and G Jayden Kraus … With Kraus out, Wheat Kings goaltending prospect Joffrey Chan served as backup … Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll struggled to get back to the Medicine Hat bench after a heavy hit by Brandon forward Gunnar Gleasman, the second time he was hammered by a Wheat King … Johnson and Mistelbacher led the Wheat Kings with five shots on net … The game took two hours, 27 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Brandon won 36-34 … Brandon visits Swift Current on Friday and then hosts the Broncos on Saturday at 6 p.m.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com