Hurricanes Beat Tigers 5-2

The "Cane Train" kept on rolling Tuesday night with a 5-2 home ice win over the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers.

It was the first home game for the Hurricanes in nearly three weeks. The Canes have won six games in a row and are 8-2 in the last 10. The only blemish on their record was a loss in Regina a couple of weeks ago. Besides that, a lot has gone the Hurricanes way.

A crowd of more than 4700 fans greeted the Hurricanes at the ENMAX Centre Tuesday and they didn't disappoint. The Canes opened the scoring 2:37 into the game on a power play when Tyler Wong scored his first of two on the night and 23rd of the season to make it 1-0 Lethbridge. The Tigers tied the score late when Matt Bradley beat Stuart Skinner to make it a 1-1 game, but before the buzzer sounded the Canes regained the one goal lead, courtesy of Kord Pankewicz, his 3rd of the season in the final minute and that would give Lethbridge a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes of play.

In the second, the score stayed 2-1 until the last two minutes of play. That's when Giorgio Estephan scored his 17th of the year to put the Hurricanes ahead by a pair for the first time, 3-1 through two periods of play.

In the third, Lethbridge finished this game off. The Canes top notch power play struck again, this time Arvin Atwal scoring his 6th of the season to put the Hurricanes up 4-1 and then Tyler Wong added his second of the night and 24th of the year to make it 5-1. Medicine Hat scored one more before it was all said and done. Chad Butcher made it a 5-2 game for the Hurricanes and that's the way this one ended.

The Tigers out shot the Hurricanes 45-35, however Stuart Skinner was solid between the pipes in this game. The Canes went 2/3 on the power play and the Tigers 0/3.

The Hurricanes improve to 26-11 on the season with the win. It keeps them in first place in the Eastern Conference, two point ahead of Calgary, three points up on Brandon and four points ahead of the Red Deer Rebels. The Hurricanes and Hitmen play twice this week, including Wednesday (Dec. 30) at the Saddledome and then Saturday (Jan. 2) back in Lethbridge. These are two huge games for these teams. If the Hurricanes can win them outright in regulation, it would give them more breathing room in the standings. Lethbridge also has two games in hand on Calgary as well.

Thanks,
Pat