WoW. The Tigers gave Regina their 3rd straight loss. This one initially appeared to be in Regina's hands as the Tigers didn't show up to play until mid-way through the second period. They also lost defenceman Kristians Rubins in the first 5 minutes.
First Period
Rubins Injured & Regina Scores
Kristians Rubins took an awkward hit in the corner and headed to the bench. Meanwhile Regina had turned on the puck and out-manned the Tigers down low. Regina's Austin Wagner would be the beneficiary as the Tigers looked a little confused to what had transpired on that play. A quick pass out from behind the net and Wagner beat Bullion from the slot.
1-0 Regina (Austin Wagner (28). Assists: #77 Adam Brooks, #15 Braydon Buziak)
First Period Summary
Chances: 7-3 Regina
Tigers were a little jittery. They had 2 bona-fida chances that missed. Unfortunately Rubins hasn't been back on the ice after the hit. The Tigers outshot Regina 12-10 but Regina was the better team.
Second Period
2-0 Regina (Nick Henry (32) scores. Assists: #6 Chase Harrison, #23 Sam Steel)
Doesn't start off any better. David Quenneville coughed the puck up in his own zone then went for a skate into the corner following a guy who didn't have a puck. Meanwhile Regina fired a slapshot on net which bullion stopped but the pats outmanned the Tigers at the net. The rebound went right off of Brad Forrest a couple inches away from the goal-line and Nick Henry had probably his easiest goal of the year.
3-0 Regina (Josh Mahura (15) scores. Assists: #77 Adam Brooks)
Regina would go up 3-0 on a deflection from Matt Bradley. Josh Mahura threw a wrist shot towards the net and Bradley changed the direction at the bottom of the circle and tipped it passed Bullion
Tigers Call a TimeOut - They look like they spent the day reading newspaper articles and made themselves nervous. Their playing January hockey which isn't good.
3-1 Tigers Goal (Jordan Henderson (6) scores. Assists: #27 Mark Rassell)
Mark Rassell with some good work capturing the puck off a turn-over and runs into the zone. He finds the trailer Jordan Henderson who fires a wrist shot top corner passed a screen Tyler Brown
3-2 Tigers Goal (Mark Rassell (33) scores. Assists: #28 Jordan Henderson, #16 Max Gerlach)
Tigers score a few minutes later. After a few straight shifts in the pats zone Henderson off the rush waits for the Trailer and finds Rassell coming in late. Rassell wires it in top shelf. Almost a carbon copy of their last goals except Rassell, and Henderson switched places.
4-2 Regina Goal Sam Steel (45) scores
Ugg The Tigers have been pressuring lots lately and had the powerplay. Unfortuantely their momentum completely died when Kirichenko coughed the puck up at the blue-line and the leagues leading scorer does what he does best and scored on the breakaway.
Second Period Summary
Chances 14-9 Regina
This was an up and down period. It was closer but Regina still had a small edge in scoring chances. The Tigers have given up 7 good scoring chances both periods. They need to cut this down if they want to win this game.
The Tigers started off the second looking a bit lost, then came on very strong towards the end of the period. They had all the momentum untill Sam Steel scored shorthanded. Hopefully the Tigers can up their game in the third. It looks like Rubins is done for today he hasn't played since the 5 minute mark of the first period.
3rd Period
The Pats start the period with the powerplay. The Bullion wall makes a big cross ice save and made it looked easy. After that the Tigers start putting on some pressure.
4-3 Tigers Goal Clayton Kirichenko (11) scores. Assists: #21 Chad Butcher, #11 Steven Owre +/-
The Tigers turned on a 4-2 and a pretty passing play put Kirichenko in front of the net with Tyler Brown and Connor Hobbs deked out on their knees.
Hard Shot and a Fight
A Connor Hobbs onetimer almost took out Michael Bullion temporarily. Bullion took it off the body and was down for a couple minutes.
Chad Butcher took a big hit behind the net and Clayton Kirichenko took exception against Dawson Leedahl. Leedahl landed 2 solid shots which took down Kirichenko. Kirichenko had a good shot of his own go off Leedahl's visor.
Kirichenko would get the instigator penalty. I was thinking this seemed a little Ill timed, but the Pats had a little bit of momentum going, and giving them a PP would be risky. Luckily the Tigers killed it off and the momentum changed.
4-4 TIE (Chad Butcher (24) scores. Assists: #39 Zach Fischer)
The Tigers get a very lucky goal. The puck squirted out from behind the net and into the feet of Josh Mahura. I've never seen a goal quite like this before.
Mahura did a full 360 spin looking for the puck except the centripetal force kept the puck in his skates until he slowed down. Unfortunately for him he pin-balled the puck right through his own goaltenders Five-Hole.
5-4 Tigers Lead (Steven Owre (24) scores. Assists: #28 Jordan Henderson, #6 Dylan MacPherson )
Jordan Henderson took a shot from near the boards and Brown looked to have an easy save, but Steven Owre stuck his stick out and managed to tip the puck just inside the post.WoW
6-4 Tigers (Zach Fischer (30) scores. Assists: #19 David Quenneville)
Fischer managed to score from near center ice a little while after Hobbs had hauled down Mason Shaw.
Chances 18-15 Regina
Game Summary
Puck luck turned a complete 180 this period. 4 Unanswered goals, including 3 in the last 6:15.
The Tigers weren't that great during the first half of the game and as a result Regina out-chanced them during the game.
The Tigers had a few unfortunate plays bite them in the butt which put them down 3-0 early. I felt like they were kinda struggling with their legs and their timing was a bit off during the first half of the game.
The Captain Kirichenko sure made up for his PP mistake to Sam Steel. He was an assist shy of a Gordie Howe hat-trick in the 3rd period. Scoring a goal and standing up for Chad Butcher after Butcher took a hard hit behind the net.
For the Tigers Dylan Macpherson and Jordan Henderson stepped up bigtime in the loss of Kristians Rubins. They both had ice against some very good players and were a combined +6.
What a roller-coaster type game.
Playoff Picture
That was a huge victory as Lethbridge also won and remain 4 points back. Tigers close to within 3 points of Regina, however Regina has 2 games in hand. The Tigers finish their 3 game road-trip in Moose Jaw tomorrow.
Lethbridge Games
Saskatoon
Edmonton
Calgary x2
Kootenay
Tigers x2
Tigers Games
Moose Jaw
Kootenay
Edmonton x2
Red Deer
Lethbridge x2
Regina Games
Calgary
Brandon x3
Saskatoon
Swift x2
MJ x2
Right now the Tigers are on pace to playing Brandon in Round 1 as the Wheat Kings have a pretty substantial 7th place lead.
However..
Their is a possibility that Lethbridge could catch up and the Tigers would face a Red Deer or Calgary.
Their is also a possibility that the Tigers could Catch Regina and play (Calgary,Saskatoon, Red Deer)
It isa bit ironic that if the Tigers move up or down instead of playing Brandon they would play calgary/red deer or saskatoon. Travel wise would seem a better match.
