The Calgary Hitmen have gone through the gauntlet over the past few weeks trying to dress a cohesive team, but the World Junior Championship, untimely injuries and unexpected winter flu bugs have deprived them of that opportunity.
For the first time this season, the Hitmen skated their top four picks from the 2016 WHL Bantam Draft and three affiliated players in the same game — a less than ideal lineup for any team pushing to make the playoffs. They were able to ride the waves of youthful chaos and energetic bursts to their second overtime win in five days.
In a game that marked the end of perhaps one of there most crucial stretches of the season, the Hitmen skated away with a 4-3 overtime victory over the Medicine Hat Tigers Wednesday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
“They’re a good team that moves the puck well and they are at the top of the division for a reason. It was good to get two points here tonight,” said the overtime hero Riley Stotts.
This was the final game of an eight-game stretch that saw the Hitmen only play the other members of the Central Division. The timing could not have been any worse with the Hitmen’s top defensive pairing away at the World Juniors and while other regulars on the roster bobbed and weaved from the starting lineup. This challenging stretch forced the Hitmen to call up three players that were playing elsewhere this season.
Despite all of that, the Hitmen walked away with a 3-3-2-0 record. They still sit seven points out of the final divisional playoff spot, but at the same time, they avoided being buried in the basement.
With all the lineup changes going on, it was the two men between the pipes that steadied the game in the third period and forced overtime.
The Tigers enjoyed over three minutes of power play midway through the third, which included two minutes of five-on-three. But the inexperienced defencemen on the penalty kill fired the puck routinely down the ice.
At the other end, the Hitmen (12-20-5-1) enjoyed four power play opportunities in the final frame, but were thwarted by a Tigers penalty kill unit that entered the game ranked second-last in the league.
The most dangerous part of the Hitmen attack in the third period was after a killed power play when Mark Kastelic, Jakob Stuekl and Andrei Grishakov kept the puck alive in the offensive zone against dog-tired penalty killers, but Hollett didn’t budge, picking up several of his 36 saves on the evening.
His counterpart Nick Schneider wasn’t as busy only making 24 stops, but the chances the Tigers were getting of the Grade A variety.
Already denying a pair of breakaways earlier, Tyler Preziuso received a Hail Mary lob pass, but couldn’t foil the Calgary Flames prospect.
Tied after regulation, the Hitmen were looking for their third overtime win of the season.
After Kastelic and Grishakov’s shift ended, one of the hotter Hitmen, Stotts took over.
He received a pass from Stukel, saw open ice and blew past Ryan Chyzowski, before dumping one 5-hole on Hollett 47 seconds into bonus time.
“It was great to see Stottsy get that. He’s a great player, works hard on and off the ice. It was great to see it pay off for him,” said Kastelic, who now has goals in six of his last seven games and 13 on the season.
Overtime always felt like a possibility, but a somewhat low scoring game didn’t.
The Tigers (21-15-3-0) struck first in the opening frame on the power play with brilliant puck movement that resulted in defenceman David Quenneville blasting a point shot into an open net.
The Hitmen answered shortly after on a power play of their own. A fanned shot from Luke Coleman was whacked at twice by Cael Zimmerman, who was enjoying some rare power play minutes with the illness to Jake Kryski. Zimmerman’s second whack found iron, as the puck shot across the blue ice behind Hollett to Kastelic, who had an open net to shoot at.
“Getting more ice time plays a factor, but I have been working on little things like my shot, getting to the right spot on the ice, get some dirty goals and shoot more often,” said Kastelic about his recent hot stretch.
Four lead changes encapsulated a wild second stanza.
Tiger’s captain Mark Rassell continued his memorable final season in the WHL by grabbing a dump-in feed from Quenneville at the bottom of the zone. He walked up and into the slot, wiring a shot past Schneider’s blocker 1:37 into the period.
Answering the call was Stukel, who turned on the jets and left a trio of Tigers in his dust in the neutral zone. In alone on Hollett, he undressed him with ease for his 18th of the year.
Two minutes later, Gary Haden torched Prokop entering the Hitmen zone by putting the puck through the rookies’ legs. He then spotted Max Gerlach, who blew past Jackson van de Leest, at the side of the net for the one-timer tap in, temporarily going ahead 3-2.
Kastelic wouldn’t let the Tigers run away so easily to close out the frame. While being checked by Haden, he threw a harmless shot at Hollett, hoping to get a rebound. The Langley native kicked the puck right to Hunter Campbell who was on the doorstep and had a slam dunk for his third of the season.
The Hitmen don’t have too long to celebrate their second overtime win in their last three outings, as another daunting weekend awaits.
They will start their second three games in three days stretch Friday night at the ‘Dome when they host the Eastern Conference leading Moose Jaw Warriors (31-6-1-2). Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. They hit the road the following night to take on the Lethbridge Hurricanes (17-17-3-0) and return home Sunday for a late afternoon affair with the B.C. Division leading Kelowna Rockets (24-11-2-1).
It is the latest challenging stretch of hockey for this young, banged up Hitmen squad.
