An insane night on the scoreboard ended up tilting in favor of the Medicine Hat Tigers, despite another strong offensive showing for the Wheat Kings.
Jaxon Jacobson scored twice, and Matteo Michels, Nicholas Johnson, and Luke Shipley scored as well, but the Wheat Kings fell 7-5 to open up their three-game road trip.
“It was kind of a slugfest for two periods, lots of chances both ways, and I think that’s probably our first downfall,” said head coach and GM Marty Murray. “You can’t get into a game of trading chances against this team, they just have too much offense. To our credit, we fought back.”
It was evident right from puck drop the two teams would have their chances. The Tigers made good on one of their earliest ones, as they broke in 3-on-2 and Markus Ruck finished off a sweet feed from his brother Liam to open the scoring.
Right after a successful Wheat Kings’ penalty kill, the Tigers stretched their lead. Mathew Ward hit the post and his shot bounced around behind Bjarnason before just squeaking over the line before the Wheat Kings could clear it away.
As pretty a passing play as they could draw up got the Wheat Kings on the board. Carter Klippenstein fed it to Brady Turko off the rush, and Turko feathered a pass through to Jacobson, who sniped home his fourth of the season.
But the momentum shifted back to the Tigers after the Wheat Kings got a little too greedy on the rush. Medicine Hat came back the other way with numbers and the end result was a partial breakaway for Kadon McCann, who finished it off by cutting back to his forehand.
The goals just kept coming in the second period. Michels got it started, cleaning up the rebound of a shot by Charlie Elick to get the Wheat Kings back within one.
The Tigers got their response on the power play from Oasiz Wiesblatt with a snapshot off the rush. But the Wheat Kings answered on a power play of their own. Turko took a hit to make the play, and Johnson took advantage, driving the slot and rifling home his sixth.
Another power play gave the Wheat Kings the tying goal, with Jacobson swatting in the rebound of a Quinn Mantei shot from the top of the right circle. And again, the Tigers answered. Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll fired one home from the high slot to restore their lead.
Before the period was out, the Wheat Kings had tied up the score again. Dominik Petr fed the puck out front from behind the net, and Shipley leapt up to blast home his third.
Early in the third, as the teams went end-to-end again, the Tigers took the lead back. Gavin McKenna feathered a pass over to Ryder Ritchie, who cut to the backhand to keep the scoring parade going.
A funny goal stretched the Tigers’ lead further. With a delayed call coming, Veeti Vaisanen fired a knuckler from the left wall that leaked through a maze of bodies and Bjarnason to make the score 7-5.
That was where the score would end, wrapping up a wild start to the road trip for the Wheat Kings. They’re right back to work tomorrow against Red Deer at 8:00 Central Time.
