Hurricanes shutout Hitmen

By Lethbridge Herald on February 15, 2023.

Herald photo by JUSTIN SEWARD Hurricanes Anton Astashevich passes the puck off to teammate Cole Shepard while being pursued by the Calgary Hitmen’s David Adaszynski during WHL action Wednesday night at the Enmax Centre.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The Lethbridge Hurricanes earned their second shutout win in their last three contests after a 3-0 win over the Calgary Hitmen on Wednesday night at the Enmax Centre.

The shutout win meant the second straight start for goalie Brian Thomson that he hasn’t allowed a goal.

“I think Calgary played a strong game,” said Hurricanes head coach Brent Kisio.

“I think the first two periods, five-on-five, they’re probably the better team. I think our special teams kind of bailed us out there and our powerplay had a couple of goals for us. And I thought our penalty kill was excellent tonight and it starts with our goalie in  Tommy. Tommy made some big saves at some key times for us.”

Kisio thought Thomson was the Canes best player on the night.

“He’s one of the better goalies in the league and he sure showed it tonight,” said Kisio.

“They had some good looks, especially in those first two periods. It could have been a different game if he wasn’t playing net for us tonight.”

Defenceman Logan McCutcheon spoke about Thomson’s performance.

“Yeah, he’s been awesome for us these last two games,” said McCutcheon.

“It’s really nice to know that you’ve got that wall back there, and if anything happens you’ve got that guy back there to make that save when you need it.”

Both of the Hurricanes goals came on the powerplay.

Anton Astashevich broke the ice in the game at 18:45 of the first period with his seventh of the season on the powerplay from Joe Arntsen and McCutcheon.

Logan Wormald pounced on a puck that slid out to him in the crease and scored to make it 2-0 at 16:49  of the second   the powerplay.

Jett Jones and McCutcheon had the helpers on Wormald’s 20th goal of the season.

Cole Shepard scored his 19th of the season into an empty net with 14 seconds to go in the third period.

“Yeah, you know it definitely wasn’t our prettiest win we’ve had, said McCutcheon, who took home second star honours.

“But it was a real good third period from us and it was really nice to get two points there.”

McCutcheon said it’s nice to contribute from the back end.

“You know we just want to get as much offence as we can from our back end and when it can come, it’s really nice to see,” he said.

The Canes kept the Hitmen off the score sheet on their five attempts with the man advantage.

The Hitmen outshot the Canes 36-26.

The Hurricanes (29-18-3-3) will entertain the Brandon Wheat Kings (21-23-7-0) for the final time this season on Friday night.