Hitmen capitalize with lopsided win over Hurricanes

By Dale Woodard on April 25, 2021.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDsports@lethbridgeherald.com

Some costly turnovers ultimately did the Lethbridge Hurricanes in.

Playing their second game of the weekend against the Calgary Hitmen, the Canes were topped 7-2 in Saturday night Western Hockey League play at the Enmax Centre.

With the teams tied at 2-2 in the second period, the Hitmen seized the game with three unasnwered goals to end the second period and took advantage of two more miscues for back-to-back shorthanded goals on the same penalty to post the convincing win one day after doubling the Hurricanes 6-3 Friday afternoon in Calgary.

Leading the Hitmen was Sean Tschigerl with the hat trick, while captain Josh Prokop had one goal and two assists.

With the loss, the Hurricanes fall to 7-10-2-0, while the Hitmen improve to 8-6-2-0.

The teams traded goals quickly midway through the first.

Tschigerl got things started for the Hitmen, sending a shot off the left wing past Hurricanes goaltender Jared Picklyk at the 10:25 mark.

But Lethbridge responded 36 seconds later when Liam Kindree grabbed a close-in feed from Justin and lifted a shot over Hitmen goaltender Jack McNaughton to tie it at 1-1.

Right after scoring, Kindree took a cross check from Riley Stotts and was tended to by the trainer while a scrum broke out behind him.

Fortunately, Kindree stayed in the game, while Stotts was handed a minor for cross checking.

A four-goal second period gave the Hitmen a healthy three-goal lead heading into the third.

Brandon Whynott gave Calgary a 2-1 lead and while the Canes tied it a little over five minutes later to make it 2-2 on a goal from Chase Wheatcroft, Cael Zimmerman restored the lead at 13:39, scoring off an odd-man rush.

Zac Funk and Tschigerl added his second of the game for a 5-2 lead after 40 minutes.

The Hurricanes had a chance to get back into the game midway through the third when Calgary’s Riley Fiddler-Schultz was called for charging.

Instead, the Hitmen padded their lead with a pair of shorthanded goals on the same infraction.

Prokop took advantage of a turnover from Hurricanes defenceman Alex Cotton, sending a shot past Hurricanes goaltender Carl Tetachuk — who came on in relief for Picklyk to start the third — to make it 6-2.

Calgary capitalized on another turnover on the same penalty and Tschigerl completed his hat trick bid at the 9:32 mark to complete the scoring.

Zimmerman added an assist for a two-point night for Calgary, while Owen Palfreyman added two helpers.

The Hurricanes outshot the Hitmen 29-27. Both teams went 0-for-4 on the power play.

Picklyk stopped 13 of 18 shots before Tetachuk came on in the third, making seven saves.

McNaughton turned aside 27 of 29 shots.

The teams complete the weekend Sunday night in Calgary at 7 p.m.

Follow @@DWoodardHerald on Twitter