Calen Addison played Hurricanes hero 5:34 into overtime as the Lethbridge Hurricanes took Game 1, 3-2 over the Calgary Hitmen. Carl Tetachuk made 31 saves in the win while Jack McNaughton had 30 saves in the loss.
The first period was much of a feeling out as neither team was able to sustain much pressure.
It was the Hitmen who found their legs first.
Moving the puck around the Hurricanes zone with some hard work, it was captain Mark Kastelic who deflected an Egor Zamula blast past Tetachuk at 14:36 of the first.
That seemed to wake up both sides as they traded chances over the final six minutes of the period but both goalies stood tall and it remained 1-0 for the Hitmen after 20 minutes of play. The visitors held the lead on the shot clock 11-7 as well.
The Hurricanes came out guns a blazing in the second period and it paid off quickly as a beautiful Jordy Bellerive pass found a wide open Nick Henry who made no mistake. He found the high inside bar behind McNaughton. The tying goal came just 1:34 into the middle frame, Alex Cotton also drew an assist on the play.
With the crowd still buzzing from the home side goal, the Hitmen wasted no time in answering.
Just 1:58 after Henry tied the game, it was Devan Klassen who flicked a shot over the blocker of Tetachuk to give the Hitmen back the one goal lead. Dakota Krebs and Vladislav Yeryomenko picked up the assists on the 2-1 marker.
Then the nastiness picked up as the playoff intensity picked up.
The “main event” was a captain on captain scrum behind the Hurricanes goal. There were multiple scrums and players squaring up after each whistle, showing there is no love lost between these central division foes. The post whistle aggression would continue for most of the night.
Dylan Cozens hit the scoresheet when he scored to tie the game at two.
A broken play in the Hitmen end wound up on Cozens stick. Jake Elmer broke into the Hitmen zone and attempted a pass, it was broken up by the Hitmen defender. Cozens was following up the play and just riffled a shot toward the net and caught McNaughton off guard.
Controversy hit just before the end of the period when Taylor Ross scored a goal that was immediately waved off for goalie interference. Referee Kowalski waved off the goal deeming that Jake Elmer had made contact with the Hitmen netminder. Coach Kisio was visibly livid from the bench as was the home town crowd. The in-house replay didn’t show there was clear contact but the call stood and the period ended tied up at two.
It was a goalie show in the third period. Both teams had some quality chances but were unable to beat the masked men.
Tetachuk stood tall with six saves but many were high danger chances while McNaughton answered with nine saves keeping Lethbridge at bay.
The teams were off to playoff overtime.
Early in the overtime it was mostly the Hurricanes with the pressure as they tried to end it early. Multiple grade A chances and sustained pressure would finally pay off at the 5:34 mark.
Calen Addison walked the blue line before ripping the puck home. The play would be reviewed, but the goal stood and Addison’s winner gave the Hurricanes a 3-2 win and a 1-0 series lead. Final shots were 33-33.
Shooting the breeze: Special teams were underwhelming as the Hurricanes went 0-for-4 on the powerplay and the Hitmen were unable to take advantage of their lone chance a man up.
Three Stars of the night were 3) Carl Tetachuk, 2) Mark Kastelic who was arguably the best player in the game, he was everywhere and 1) Nick Henry.
Attendance was 3566, game two between these two rivals goes Saturday night again at the Enmax Centre.
