The Red Deer Rebels play against the Medicine Hat Tigers at the Peavey Mart Centrium on Tuesday. (Red Deer Rebels/ Taylor Lachance)

By Alessia Proietti

Round 1: Rebels 2-1

Rebels win game three 4-3 against the Tigers in overtime

Apr 2, 2024 | 11:09 PM

In game three of the WHL playoffs, the Red Deer Rebels defeat the Medicine Hat Tigers 4-3 in a close overtime game on Tuesday at the Peavey Mart Centrium.

The Rebels are now 2-1 against the Tigers in the best-of-seven series.

The Tigers’ Hayden Harsanyi opened the scoreboard 1-0 near the halfway mark with a goal on Rebels goaltender Chase Wutzke.

But Red Deer did the impossible to tie the game 1-1. With Jace Weir sitting on the bench for delaying the game, Carson Latimer scored his second goal this playoff season on Medicine Hat netminder Zach Zahara from the high slot with 0.4 seconds left in regulation. The timer showing zero seconds on the board, the shorthanded goal assisted by Derek Thurston, was a go after review.

The Tigers were outshooting the Rebels 13-9 after 20 minutes of play.

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In the middle frame, Medicine Hat’s Oasiz Wiesblatt regained the lead 2-1 for the team at 6:12.

But with the Tigers given a penalty shortly after for having too many men on the ice, the Rebels’ Latimer scored another goal with a one-timer near the seven-minute mark. His third of the series and second of the game, Kalan Lind and Hunter Mayo got the helpers on the power play goal, tying the game 2-2.

Red Deer gained the lead at 15:10 when Mayo scored with a wrist-shot from the right point, rebounding off the goalie and into the net. Mats Lindgren assisted the seeing-eye shot, the team now ahead 3-2.

This time it was the Rebels who outshot the Tigers 16-9 in the second period.

Medicine Hat almost tied the game once again in the third period, but the point was called off for goaltender interference.

However, once the Tigers pulled goalie Zahara from the net, Andrew Basha evened the scoreboard 3-3 with just 35 seconds left in the game.

Heading into overtime, the visitors outshot the home team 11-6 in the final period.

Another 20 minutes on the clock, the Tigers’ Wiesblatt was sent to the box for hooking. After multiple shots on goal by the Rebels leading to a scramble at the net, Samuel Drancak managed to tap in a power play goal at 6:31. With Jhett Larson getting the apple, Red Deer took home a 4-3 win.

Both teams had five shots on goal in overtime.

Shots on goal

MH: 38

RD: 36

Power play

MH: 0/3

RD: 2/6

Three Stars

1^st: Samuel Drancak (RD) – 1G

2^nd: Carson Latimer (RD) – 2G

3^rd: Andrew Basha (MH) – 1G

Red Deer Rebels Head Coach Dave Struch said while the game did not go as they wanted, he gave credit to the skilled Tigers for pushing the pace.

“Obviously the momentum changes throughout the game were extensive, a lot of play in our end that we didn’t want to be a part of,” he said. “We did respond at different points throughout the game, thankfully at the right time in overtime, and now we shelf that game and get ready for tomorrow night.”

Struch said goaltender Wutzke has been doing a good job at giving the team a chance to win and put a spotlight on key moments like Latimer’s game-tying goal in the final milliseconds of the first period.

Forward Latimer said he felt good about capitalizing on opportunities for his two back-to-back goals but didn’t realize how close his first one was to the buzzer.

“Apparently the guys were yelling at me; I didn’t hear them. I was going to do the same thing regardless at the time, but I lucked out,” he said.

For his second goal, he said he felt he owed it to the team.

“I kind of gave up the second goal for them; I got beat off the wall and they [Tigers] scored, so I felt that it was my responsibility to get one back for the group. It felt really good to be able to do it, especially quickly after; a quick response was really important for us,” he said.

He added the enthusiastic Red Deer crowd helped push their team, giving them momentum to stick it out the entire game and not give up after each tie from the Tigers.

Both Latimer and Struch commented on their strong start this game in comparison to the previous two.

“We have to come off the way we did tonight. It was the first game we had a good start in so that was a big bonus for us, but we still need to be consistent for the full 60 [minutes] plus,” said the head coach.

Red Deer sits in third place within the Eastern Conference while Medicine Hat falls to fifth.

The Rebels will rematch the Tigers tomorrow night at the Peavy Mart Centrium for game four of the series. Puck drop is at 7 p.m. with the broadcast live on 106.7 REWIND radio 30 minutes prior.

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