Saturday, January 26, 2013

Tigers Defeat Chiefs 4-3

Pre Game
Spokane honored their billets families at center ice with each family taking a picture with their billet players. Really Nice gesture by them

Lanigan gets the start
Spokane has some injury troubles as their game roster is short 2 players.

First Period
The only goal of the period came of a bad turnover by Derek Ryckman. Mike Aviani stripped Ryckman of the puck and found a streaking Todd Fidler coming into the zone. Fidler ( a former Tiger) buried a shot stick side past Cam Lanigan. 1-0 Spokane

Spokane generated a lot of momentum off that goal and started turning on the jets late in the period.

Shots 16-16

I thought the Tigers won that period. They had quite a few scoring chances and at one point were outshooting spokane by a wide margin. Cam Lanigan had to make a number of high quality saves late in the period as Spokane turned on the jets.

Elgin Pearce seems to have a few rivalries with spokane as he is chirping and giving people shots after the whistle.


2nd Period
A deflected shot went down the back of Cam Lanigan and right across the goal-line where Zach Hodder scooped up the puck and fed it it Boston Leier. Leier had a step on the defender and layed into a wrist shot from the top of the circle. The shot beat Spokane Goaltender Garret Hughson top shelf Blocker Side. 1-1 TIE

on a 3 on 3 rush up the Ice, Spokane wasn't paying attention to Hunter Shinkaruk on the far side. Boston Leier fed Shinkaruk the puck and Shinkaruk took a hard low shot blocker side which beat Garret Hughson for a 2-1 Tiger Lead

After that the Tigers had 2 consecutive very weak calls go against them. A spokane player dived ahead to whack a shot on goal and Trevor Cox got called for interference, Derek Ryckman took a guy up against the boards pretty gently to pin him and the player fell over and they gave Ryckman a boarding penalty.

Spokane outshot the Tigers 20-7.

Every shot the Tigers had was a very high quality chance. (Ryckman had a mini-breakaway and made a nice move but was denied by an amazing save. Leier hit the post on a backhand, their were a couple 2 on 1's as well)
Spokane was firing everything on net from all over the place, and the Tigers blocked 4 straight shots on the penalty kill when Spokane was putting on some high pressure.

3rd Period
Another Barn-Burner third period

Spokane tied the game 8 seconds into the period. Todd Fidler broke into the Tigers zone after Tyler Lewington lost a tire. Fidler on the breakaway beat Lanigan high Blocker Side. 2-2 TIE

Two Minutes later the Tigers would take the lead. Ty Stanton fed Jake Doty near center ice. Doty made a chip pass out to Trevor Cox for a 2 on 1. Cox fed Miles Koules on a mini breakaway and Koules made a small Deke to the far side beating Garret Hughson 3-2 Tigers

Spokane would tie the game up 11 seconds later on a very similar play to the Tigers last goal. Blake Gal fired a shot in on the far side. 3-3 TIE

A good read by Cam Lanigan would send Curtis Valk on a breakaway. Off a bad change Lanigan fired a shot up to Valk who on the breakaway beat Garret Hughson Stickside. 4-3 Tigers

Spokane pulled their goalie with 2 minutes remaining.  Curtis Valk hit the post and another TIger chipped the puck over the night on the empty net. Spokane then had tons of pressure, hit a post, and Lanigan made numerous saves to give the Tigers a win.

Spokane outshot the Tigers 58-31.

Thoughts
Two intense barn-burner third periods on the road, and the Tigers come up the victors. Spokane was firing shots on net anytime they entered the zone. Lanigan did make a bunch of high quality stops including a game saver in the dieing seconds. Not only did he play phenomenal in net, Lanigan had a game winning assist on the Tigers go-ahead goal. Again the Tigers goals were scored by 4 different players.

 The win pulls the Tigers into a tie with Swift Current for 6th place, as Moose Jaw defeated the Broncos Tonight. Lethbridge Lost to Red Deer in a shootout so Lethbridge remains 1 point ahead. The Tigers with a game in hand.

Next Up: The Tigers take on Calgary Tuesday at the Arena.

16 comments:

CatFan said...

Very gutsy road wins guys! I'm very proud of them. I'm thinking road legs caught up to them a bit in the last 2 periods of this game, but they found a way to win. Amazing game by Lanigan! 55 saves and 2 assists!! Let's keep it going and teach the Hitmen another lesson on Tuesday.

Anonymous said...

Totally agree CatFan. Couple huge character wins. They got down and that no die attitude kicked in and battled hard to take a couple wins away from tri city and Spokane

Anonymous said...

Great win!!! Lanigan was unreal!! Good team effort!! Really like the attitude this team has! They never give up!!

Anonymous said...

nice to see the Tigers turning things around since the block buster trade with the Raiders. what are the stats? keep it going Tigers

Anonymous said...

The trade was brillent!!! We definitely got te best of that!!!

Anonymous said...

Tigers are hot, they finally got D that clear the front of the net and Hodder is a major improvement over that other guy

Anonymous said...

Hodder is so underrated! McVeigh has a lot of heart of toughness. They are what this team needed.

Anonymous said...

What are you guys talking about! Hodder is brutal... Our 20yr old on D is terrible! Bredo is a much better defender then hodder, ryckman, jensen and becker! Our top 3 defensive D are 1. Bredo 2. Lewington and 3. Stanton.

Dan said...

Anon 2:02, the talk was about the trade, not a general conversation about Dmen. Hodder is better then Bus, that was what was being commented on. There was no comparison on 20 yos or Bredo. Eye on the ball buddy.

Anonymous said...

Diagree, Hodder is underrated. He is quick, had a good first pass and clears the net well. It is not all flash that makes a good Dman.

Anonymous said...

Hodder better then Bus??? HAHA! You got to be kidding me! Bus has 33 points and Hodder has what... 7 pts! You do the math!!!

longtimefan said...

Busenius -29, Hodder +3, nuff said.

Anonymous said...

Bus was -22 when he left....... he is suppose to keep the puck OUT of our net, not in!!! -22 is unacceptable for any Dman never mind your first line Dman!!!

Anonymous said...

We don't need offense from Dmen, we need them to be a plus player. Something that Busineus was not!! His minus rating was one of the first in te league!! We needed a responsible Dman, not a Dman trying to play offense and not knowing a thing about defence!!

longtimefan said...

Seems as if the trade has benefitted the Tigers so far. Since the trade the Tigers are 9-3-1 while the Raiders are 4-7. McVeigh has 5g, 5a and is +5 while Hodder has 4 assists and is +1. Busenius has 7 assists and a -7 while Hart has 2g, 5a and is -3.

Anonymous said...

Bus was/is playing top line and Hodder was/is playing THIRD line. And Bus was getting double shifted many times throughout the year due to the young guys not being ready.