Hurricanes season on the brink after dropping 6-5 decision to Hitmen in Game 5

Not long after it was another powerplay for Calgary, and another goal.

Mark Kastelic was back in the line up after missing Game’s 3 and 4 with injury, and he got himself back on the scoresheet when he roofed a puck over Carl Tetachuk in tight to give the Hitmen a 2-0 lead with just over three minutes to play.

But the Hurricanes wouldn’t go into the intermission still searching for a goal.

Less than a minute later Lethbridge captain Jordy Bellerive sniped his first of the postseason blocker side past Hitmen goaltender Jake McNaughton to make it 2-1, which is where things would stand after a period of play.

Just 36 seconds into the 2nd is all it took for the Hitmen to regain their two-goal lead. Josh Prokop got the goal to increase the Calgary lead to 3-1 after a good effort by Coleman.

Again, Lethbridge would have a quick answer. At 2:49 Jake Leschyshyn continued his hot play by scoring his fourth goal of the postseason and cut the Hitmen lead to 3-2.

The Hitmen made it 4-2 following another net mouth scramble thanks to Yeryomenko who jumped into the play and beat Nolan Jones to a loose puck after Tetachuk made the initial save.

Tetachuk would get the hook in favour of backup Bryan Thomson at that point, though it wouldn’t be the end of Tetachuk’s night.

Calgary would get themselves into some penalty trouble after that, and the momentum completely flipped.

A great pass by Bellerive found Nick Henry off to the side of the net who made no mistake beating McNaughton and pulling the Hurricanes to within one goal at 4-3.

Then the Hurricanes would tie it 4-4 at 12:04 when Logan Barlage buries it on another Hurricane powerplay.

Lethbridge’s momentum would be zapped in the last three minutes of the 2nd however. First, it was Cael Zimmerman cutting to the middle and ripping a great shot by Thomson at 17:51.

Hitmen captain Mark Kastelic had a significant impact in this one, as his second of the game made it 6-4 with less than 30 seconds to go in the middle frame.

In the 3rd period, it would be Carl Tetachuk leading his team back onto the ice for the final 20 minutes.

He did everything he could, making a couple of early saves in the period to keep his team in it. The Hurricanes couldn’t solve Calgary’s defensive scheme for much of the final frame, only mustering nine shots in the period, but a late powerplay gave the fans some hope.

Leschyshyn scored his second goal of the night to cut the Hitmen lead back to one goal at 6-5 with 4:29 to play, but that’s as close as the Hurricanes would come.

Final shots on goal finished at 42-34 in favour of Calgary.

The Hitmen were 2-for-4 with the man-advantage, while the Hurricanes finished 3-for-8.

Head Coach Brent Kisio says it was a weird kind of game where you could tell that the greasier team was going to win, and the Hurricanes just weren’t greasy enough.

On the goaltending decisions, Kisio says it was a combination of the staff thinking Tetachuk was just OK while also needing a spark.

“I thought we got it, and then we went back to him in the 3rd and I thought he was fine.”

And as far as the message to his club ahead of Game 6?

“The series isn’t over. We have to go back there and find a way to bring it back to Lethbridge. We’ve been in worst spots with this organization and found a way to win a series, so we’ll have to do it again,” Kisio stated.

The ‘Canes captain thought it was a pretty crazy game, and despite the fact it was in a different rink than usual both teams had to deal with that so it was no excuse.

“It’s a really disappointing finish for us, but we’ve got a chance to do it again tomorrow and even the series up again,” Bellerive said.

Bellerive’s message will be simple for his teammates, they need to remain confident in themselves.

“We have a great team and everyone knows that. We need to get our confidence back, we haven’t been in this situation in a while, so it’s kind of exciting for us to be an underdog for a game and show what we got when we’re desperate,” Bellerive stated.

Game 6 goes tomorrow afternoon in Calgary, with the Hitmen leading the Hurricanes 3-2 in the series, beginning at 4 p.m.

by Aaron Mahoney (@Mahones93 on Twitter)

Hurricanes season on the brink after dropping 6-5 decision to Hitmen in Game 5

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