Tyler Lowey Photo

Hitmen chill Ice in shootout

As the season winds down and the Calgary Hitmen play out the string on what could be the fourth-worst season in franchise history, the club is playing decent hockey and borrowed a phrase from the legendary hip-hop group Cypress Hill, decideding that they “Ain’t goin’ out like that.”

The Hitmen hosted their biggest rival from the Central Division, the Kootenay Ice Wednesday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome in their penultimate home game of the rebuilding 2017-18 season and sent the 6,849 fans home with a 3-2 victory in the shootout. The Ice (25-38-5-2) continued their free-fall and have now lost 14 of their last 15 games.

Motivation can come several forms for teams eliminated from playoff contention. For the Hitmen (23-36-9-2), despite their poor record, they managed to go 13-9-4-1 within their division but have struggled against the Ice, going 1-3-2 against Jeff Chynoweth’s former club this season.

With only three games remaining, the Hitmen didn’t hold back and wanted to get one past their divisional rival.

“We can still use these games for experience and we still want every two points we come across,” said Hitmen centre Riley Stotts.

Both clubs have been using these games as a way of doling out more ice time to younger, lesser played lines.

For the Hitmen, they started a potential snazzy first line next season in Cael Zimmerman, Carson Focht and Tristen Nielsen, while the Ice countered with three affiliated players, including a goaltender that made his Western Hockey League debut.

And the debut started brilliantly for North Vancouver’s Jesse Makaj.

In the first period, Stotts and Jake Kryski were their usual-buzzing selves and ripped a couple shots at the rook, but the former second-round pick stood tall, stopping all 11 shots of the opening frame.

The second period didn’t go his way, as he yielded two goals on the first two shots.

Playing in his third-last WHL game, Jakob Stukel opened the period by finding Mark Kastelic in the slot, who’s heavy wrister dribbled through the five-hole of Makaj. On the Hitmen’s next trip down the ice, Stotts got hung up by Jonathan Smart entering the zone, but his partner in crime Kryski picked up the puck and found Stotts back in front of the net for the tap in.

“(Luke) Coleman and Kryski move the puck so well that it happens to open up the ice. I try and do the same for them out there and it worked tonight,” said Stotts.

The Ice staked their netminder to a early 1-0 lead when Vladislav Yeryomenko got tangled up with Matthew Armitage — who is also seeing more burn these days — at the side of the net.

Bumping into each other in trying to decide who should get the puck on an Ice dump in, Armitage scrambled back to his position but was still chasing the play. Martin Bodak’s point shot bounced along the ice only to be swatted in by Dallas Stars prospect Brett Davis near the opposite post.

Finding his composure, Makaj rebounded to close out the middle frame with nine saves, highlighted by denying the Hitmen’s hottest sniper Tristen Nielsen twice — on two different moves — on breakaways during the same shift. The rookie’s performance halted a seven-game point streak for Nielsen that saw him ring up six goals and five assists.

At the other end of the ice Armitage was making his 10th start of the season, one night after seeing Nick Schneider set a new franchise record for most minutes played in a single season with 3,431, surpassing Alexander Fomitchev’s total of 3,371 during the 1997-98 campagin.

Armitage couldn’t control the rebound on one of his 25 saves on the evening, as Bodak’s point shot banked hard off his right leg and onto the tape of Alec Baer, who deposited his 28th of the season to tie the game and eventually force over time.

Over time has been nothing new to the Hitmen as of late, who appeared in their sixth-extra session in the past nine games.

A Yeryomenko crossbar, along with a burst of speed from Kryski and Stukel solved nothing, so the Hitmen entered their sixth shootout of the season.

Shootouts are easy when your team goes 3-for-3 on the offensive end, but Armitage pulled out the save of the evening when he stacked the pads and rolled over his head like he lived out those grainy videos of Dominik Hasek in the 90s to deny Davis.

“Shootouts are fun. They’re fun and they’re awesome. You get to show your stuff off and it’s you versus him,” said Armitage, who is 2-0 in shootouts this season. “I just try to match their speed as they come in and let them make the first move. I try and read it and just let my athleticism take over to make the save.”

Now, with no pressure whatsoever, the Hitmen will try and pull off something that they have failed to do three times this season, and scratch together three-straight wins when they take on the Edmonton Oil Kings Saturday night at Rogers Place. The regular season finale goes Sunday, 2 p.m. back at the ‘Dome against the very same Oil Kings (21-41-6-2).