Canes edge Hitmen to take 2-0 series lead

By Lethbridge Herald on April 12, 2025.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The  Lethbridge Hurricanes have taken a 2-0 series lead over the Calgary Hitmen after a 2-1 win on Saturday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

“I think lots of just good little performances,” said Matt Anholt, Canes associate head coach.

“I think top to bottom lots of guys on our team sacrificed their body a lot to get lanes and to take hits to make plays and just do the little things that leads to playoff wins.”

Brayden Edwards gave Lethbridge first blood in Game 2 when he redirected in a Noah Chadwick point shot on the powerplay 14:22 into the second period while Ben Kindel was sitting off for slashing.

Miguel Marques also got an assist.

The Hitmen solved Jackson Unger for the first time in the series when  Kindel’s wrist shot found the back of the net 16:56 into third period to tie the game.

Kooper Gizowski picked up on a Noah Chadwick rebound and wristed it top shelf with 2:15 to go in the game to give the Canes a 2-1 lead and the Game 2 victory.

“We knew they were gonna score at some point in the series and it just  happen to be at a big moment,” said Anholt, on Gizowski’s line.

“Good on our guys to come out there on a bump-up shift right after a goal against (and) go and score the winner.”

Unger again was impressive on the evening in the Canes crease with 33 saves on 34 shots.

“Again just extremely sticky, calm (and) poised,” said Anholt.

“You can tell that the kid has won a championship before, he’s played in a lot of big games in his life and he’s been our rock through two games.

“He’s been our MVP so far through these seven playoff games.”

Calgary outshot Lethbridge 34-27 in the contest.

Lethbridge went 1-for-3 on the power play and took no penalties in the game.

Games 3 and 4 go Tuesday and Wednesday night respectively at VisitLethbridge.com Arena.