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The Medicine Hat Tigers came into Game 4 at the Spokane Arena quite banged up: consensus 2026 No. 1 NHL draft pick Gavin McKenna missed his second consecutive game with an undisclosed injury, and forwards Cayden Lindstrom and Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll were both scratched as well.
Lindstrom, a 6-foot-4, 215-pound center who missed the entire season after offseason back surgery, scored two goals with two assists over the first three games.
But the Tigers that did take the ice more than compensated for their missing teammates, putting the Spokane Chiefs on the brink of elimination.
Already leading in the second period, Medicine Hat scored twice on a five-minute major penalty and beat the Chiefs 5-2, taking a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Hockey League Championship.
The Tigers went 3 for 4 overall on the power play.
Game 5, with an opportunity for the Chiefs to send the series back to Canada, is Friday at the Arena.
“Obviously, it’s not the outcome that we wanted, that’s for sure,” Chiefs coach Brad Lauer said. “The second period, we obviously got into penalty trouble, and (Medicine Hat) took advantage of it.
“They played a good game. They played a textbook game. Once they got the lead, they’re very structured, very detailed – shutting us down and making us go 200 feet.”
Medicine Hat is 11-2-1 this season without McKenna in the lineup.
“We got the early (goal). But you know, the playoffs are so hard,” Medicine Hat coach Willie Desjardins said. “There’s just little things that make a difference.”
The Chiefs have one game left at home this season to try to force Games 6 and 7.
“We’re down, but we’re not out yet,” Lauer said.
“We’ve had a good group all year. They believe in each other; they care about each other. We’ve got to regroup. And we gotta win. We gotta win Friday. We gotta get it back to Medicine Hat. That’s our focus.”
“We’ve always been a resilient team. Never doubted that,” Chiefs defenseman Saige Weinstein said. “We’re just really focused on the next game. What we can do to put the pressure on them.”
“Everybody in this room believes that we can do it,” forward Sam Oremba said. “So, three games. We’ve won more than three in a row the whole year. We’ve just got to start with Friday.”
Bryce Pickford scored twice for Medicine Hat, extending his playoff goal-scoring streak to seven games – the most by a defenseman in the WHL playoffs since 1996.
“It helps when they do that,” Desjardin joked about Pickford’s heater. “It’s not just this stretch. It’s been the whole year. … He’s got a great shot, sees the ice well. But seven in a row is a lot.”
Chiefs forward Shea Van Olm scored a goal, assisted by Andrew Cristall and Berkly Catton. But the Chiefs’ top line is a combined minus-24 in the series.
“They’re playing them hard,” Lauer said of Medicine Hat’s defensive effort against his top line. “They have to work through this stuff. They got to find a way to create offense. … They’re doing a very good job of shutting them down and being difficult on them. But we know that’s playoff hockey.”
“That’s hard to believe. I would never have guessed that,” Desjardins said about the Chiefs top line being minus-24. “They have a really good line, and with their skill, if they have time, they’re going to make plays. …I think we do have a really good defense corps and it’s not just one guy. I think as a corps, we’re good. So, I think (we) always get a hard match up against them. And I think our team has worked hard.”
As with the first two games of the series, the Tigers scored inside the first minute of the game. Tanner Molendyk chased down a puck in the left-wing corner and centered it to a streaking Ryder Ritchie, who had beaten the Spokane defense to the crease.
After a couple of whacks, the puck got through goalie Dawson Cowan for Ritchie’s ninth of the playoffs just 31 seconds into the game.
Spokane has allowed the first goal in 14 of their 19 playoff games – including all four in the championship series.
But the Chiefs answered on the next shift, a mere 18 seconds later, when Assanali Sarkenov tipped Weinstein’s pass from the point past Tigers goalie Harrison Meneghin for his eighth of the postseason.
SHARKY BITES BACK 🦈
Assanali Sarkenov ties this one up 1-1 at :49 with help from Saige Weinstein!#GoChiefsGo | #WHLChampionship pic.twitter.com/nnuGf0DiOG
Late in the period, Medicine Hat captain Oasiz Wiesblatt was sent off for tripping, and 1 minute, 16 seconds of the infraction carried over to the second.
Nothing came of it, but a little later Weinstein was called for interference and the Tigers made good as Pickford walked in from the point and sent a wrister past Cowan. It was his 11th of the playoffs.
The Chiefs spent the next eight minutes of game time killing penalties and it didn’t go well.
A few minutes after Pickford’s goal, Chiefs defenseman Nathan Mayes blew up Misha Volotovskii along the boards with a shoulder check and the referee assessed a five-minute major for interference and a game misconduct.
“I haven’t really looked at the penalty, to be honest with you,” Lauer said. “Losing the top defenseman in your group, it’s tough. … That late in the game, and obviously where we are in playoffs, it’s tough to lose a high caliber defenseman at that at that stage of the game.”
Not quite two minutes into the major, Chiefs forward Rasmus Ekstrom was sent off for spraying snow on Meneghin after the goalie played the puck late on a breakaway.
Medicine Hat quickly scored at 5-on-3 with Pickford picking up his second of the game.
The Tigers added another with 1 1/2 minutes left on the major, as Liam Ruck stuffed home a rebound to make it 4-1.
The Chiefs found some short-lived momentum. With 2:55 left in the period, Wiesblatt collided with Cowan and was sent away for goalie interference. The Chiefs scored in short order as Cristall put it on a tee for Van Olm’s one-timer from the right-wing circle, his 13th goal of the playoffs.
A MASSIVE RESPONSE FROM HUNTER ST. MARTIN 🤯@TigersHockey | @FlaPanthers | #WHLChampionship | #FeedingTheFuture pic.twitter.com/dtkRYodXEJ
But the momentary good time didn’t last as Hunter St. Martin stole a puck at mid-ice, outraced defenseman Will McIsaac and with the defenseman on his hip he flipped it past Cowan to make it 5-2 with 30 seconds left in the period.
“(Spokane) had a lot of momentum. Their crowd was roaring,” St. Martin said. “I saw the turnover, and saw some daylight, and just kind of used my feet. …It was a good goal for our group.”
It stayed that way through the third period as Medicine Hat controlled long stretches of play, putting the Chiefs backs against the wall.
“We did some good things tonight,” Weinstein said. “Just, honestly, it’s just little details, I think, that we kind of got to clean up. And that’s something we’re going to go over and we’re gonna fix Friday.”
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