Canes looking for a way to win in Game 3

By Lethbridge Herald on April 1, 2024.

Hurricanes Leo Braillard and Logan McCutcheon attempted to tie up Broncos Caleb Wyrostok in front of Canes goaltender Harrison Meneghin during Game 2 of their first round WHL playoff series on Saturday in Swift Current. Southwest Booster photo by Steven Mah

Justin Seward – LETHBRIDGE HERALD – sports@lethbridgeherald.com

The Lethbridge Hurricanes find themselves looking for a way to win tonight in Game 3 as they are down two games to none to the Swift Current Broncos in their first round WHL playoff series.

“Well, we got to stay out of the box,” said Matt Anholt, Hurricanes assistant coach, when asked about preparation for Game 3.

“I mean our penalty kill right now is at 50 per cent and we’ve got to find a way to score a powerplay goal. We’ve significantly lost the special teams battle and that’s probably the difference in the series right now.”

Swift Current has gone 3-for-6 while the Canes have gone 0-for-6 on the powerplay through the first two games.

The team will look to bear down in the faceoff dot more.

“They’ve really beaten us up there significantly,” said Anholt.

The Broncos have won 64 of the 114 faceoffs in the first two games.

Puck management will be key to a strong start for the Canes in Game 3.

“I think just managing the puck, getting pucks behind them and going to work,” said Anholt.

Games 3 and 4 are at the Enmax Centre tonight and tomorrow night respectively at 7 p.m.

The Broncos won Game 2 4-3 on Saturday night to take a 2-0 series lead.

“We battled really hard,” said Anholt.

“It was a good playoff game, two good teams playing and they just seemed to obviously get a little bit more puck luck than us and get some more powerplays than us. And that was the difference,” said Anholt.

Anholt did see some encouraging things.

“Even just through the whole 60, we’re getting a lot of really good efforts by a lot of our guys,” said Anholt.

“You know up front from Leo Braillard, who was just excellent tonight. And Kash Andresen’s given us a lot as a 16-year-old playing in his first WHL playoff games and lots of guys on the backend are just playing excellent too. So lots to look forward to.”

Leo Braillard, Sean Tschigerl and Hayden Pakkala scored in the loss for the Canes.

Swift Current got goals from Ryan McCleary, Josh Filmon, Conor Geekie and Connor Hvidston.