Tigers ride four-goal third period to 7-3 win

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The Medicine Hat Tigers broke open a 3-3 tie with four goals in the third period as they beat the Brandon Wheat Kings 7-3 in Western Hockey League action at Westoba Place on Sunday.

Medicine Hat (28-14-3-0) received two goals each from Oasiz Wiesblatt and Hayden Harsanyi, and singles from Dru Krebs, Hunter St. Martin and Tomas Mrsic, while Rylen Roersma, Brett Hyland and Joby Baumuller replied for Brandon (22-16-4-1) in front of a crowd of 2,275.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said it was a game when a lot of the adversity his team faced was self inflicted.

“We talk about puck management until we’re blue in the face,” Murray said. “I think a majority of the goals were us having complete control of the puck and we mismanage it and it ends up in our net.”

Overage forward Jayden Wiens, who returned to the lineup after missing Saturday’s game due to illness, agreed his team was careless and it cost them.

“We gave them every goal pretty much,” Wiens said. “It wasn’t a structure thing, it was just puck management at the blue-lines. We turned it over and they came down and scored on us and that’s what good teams do. If we want to be a good team and play with these top teams, we’re going to have to do a better job of that.”

The Wheat Kings fell behind 32 seconds into the game on an own goal. Krebs fired a pass into the middle, and Roger McQueen attempted to break up the pass to Gavin McKenna but instead deflected the puck through the legs of goalie Ethan Eskit.

Brandon sent Medicine Hat to a 59-second five-on-three power play eight minutes into the game, but the threat was mostly nullified when the Tigers were penalized for a faceoff violation on the ensuing draw.

Roersma tied the game late in the first period with an unassisted goal after he picked up the puck in the neutral zone, raced in on the wing and fired a shot under the glove of Medicine Hat goalie Ethan McCallum, who is a Brandon product.

The Tigers pushed early in the second period, with Eskit making an outstanding pad save on a three-on-one. But after a stretch pass sent Shane Smith all alone, Jackson DeSouza tied him up and was flagged for holding as the forward fell to the ice. It took just five seconds for the visitors to connect on a tic-tac-toe play to St. Martin in the slot.

Brandon tied it three minutes later. As the Wheat Kings broke into the Tigers zone off the rush, Hyland fired a shot from the high slot through traffic that went over McCallum’s glove to make it 2-2.

The Tigers raced back into the lead 95 seconds later after a turnover by defenceman Rhett Ravndahl low in the Brandon zone. Wiesblatt fired a shot on net and punched in the rebound after Eskit was unable to corral the puck.

But Brandon’s fourth line, which has been a reliable offensive contributor lately, came to the rescue again, with Hayden Wheddon finding Baumuller off the rush and the rookie forward firing in his second goal of the season. The assist extended Hayden Wheddon’s point streak to four games.

“(Carter Klippenstein) gave it up to Wheds and he threw it across the ice to me and honestly I just threw the puck on net,” Baumuller said. “It was nice to finally get one of those shots on net that I’ve been waiting for so it’s good.”

The third period proved to be all Tigers.

Another Brandon turnover put Medicine Hat back in the lead. Hyland lost the puck in the middle of his zone and it went to Tomas Mrsic. His shot was stopped by Eskit but the rebound hit Harsanyi and bounced into the net.

The Tigers took their first two-goal lead on a highlight goal by Mrsic. He broke through two Brandon defenders near the top of the zone, deked around another and from his knees lifted the puck into the top of the net to put the visitors up 5-3.

Harsanyi and Wiesblatt then added late goals to complete the rout.

“The third period was tough,” Wiens said. “It was close up until then. You play a good 20 minutes and you win, and we didn’t and we lost the game. We have to play a full 60 minutes.”

Murray said after two fairly even periods, his club just wasn’t good enough in the final frame.

“We gave up an unfortunate one 30 seconds in and then we were able to tie after one, and it was a pretty even period,” Murray said. “The second was kind of back and forth again, although we spent some time in the penalty box. The third was the difference in the game. We were careless and good players make you pay.”

Eskit made 31 saves for the Wheat Kings, with McCallum stopping 25 shots for the Tigers.

Brandon went 0-for-2 on the power play, with Medicine Hat scoring once in six chances.

Medicine Hat head coach Willie Desjardins, whose club was playing its third game in three days and was without top performers Andrew Basha and Cayden Lindstrom, said some puck luck proved helpful.

“We capitalized on a couple of plays and got some breaks in the third,” Desjardins said. “A couple went off someone and in, and that made a difference. All of a sudden it goes from 3-3 and we’re up by three and it just changes the game. We got a couple of breaks when we needed it.”

ICINGS: Brandon skated without F Matt Henry (suspension), G Carson Bjarnason (lower-body injury, week-to-week) and D Charlie Elick (Top Prospects Game) … DeSouza led the Wheat Kings with five shots on net … The game took two hours, 23 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Brandon won 39-30 … The Wheat Kings head out on the road for a three-in-three trip in Alberta next weekend. Their next home game is Feb. 2 when the Red Deer Rebels visit.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

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SUNDAY

Tigers 7, Wheat Kings 3

First Period

1. Medicine Hat, Krebs 4 (unassisted) 0:32.

2. Brandon, Roersma 16 (unassisted) 17:38.

Penalties — DeSouza Bdn (tripping) 7:56, Roersma Bdn (tripping) 8:58, Smith MH (faceoff violation) 9:09.

Second Period

3. Medicine Hat, St. Martin 18 (Smith, McKenna) 3:29 (pp).

4. Brandon, Hyland 24 (Hadland) 6:30.

5. Medicine Hat, Wiesblatt 18 (unassisted) 8:05.

6. Brandon, Baumuller 2 (Wheddon, Klippenstein) 9:23.

Penalties — DeSouza Bdn (holding) 3:24, Mantei Bdn (hooking) 10:28, Ravndahl Bdn (holding) 14:40.

Third Period

7. Medicine Hat, Harsanyi 8 (Mrsic) 4:05.

8. Medicine Hat, Mrsic 12 (McKenna, Smith) 5:12.

9. Medicine Hat, Harsanyi 9 (Krebs, Parsons) 15:23.

10. Medicine Hat, Wiesblatt 19 (McKenna, St. Martin) 17:20.

Penalties — Johnson Bdn (hooking) 5:43, Klippenstein Bdn (roughing) 8:29, Krebs MH (roughing) 8:29, Hodass MH (cross checking) 12:59.

Shots on goal by

Brandon 9 8 11 — 28

Medicine Hat 9 18 11 — 38

Goal — Brandon: Eskit (L, 7-7-0-0). Medicine Hat: McCallum (W, 8-4-0-0).

Power plays (goals-chances) — Brandon: 0-2; Medicine Hat: 1-6.

Referees — Karlin Krieger, Bobby Jo Love.

Linesmen — Ryan Cooke, Sean Dufour.

Attendance — 2,275 in Brandon.