By Aaron Mahoney (@Mahones93 on Twitter)

Addison’s overtime heroics give Hurricanes 3-2 win over Hitmen in Game 1

Mar 22, 2019 | 11:23 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The Lethbridge Hurricanes thought they had the go-ahead goal late in the 2nd period of Game 1 against the Calgary Hitmen, but they had to fight on until Calen Addison sealed the deal with a shot from the point in overtime on Friday, Mar. 23, to give the Hurricanes a 3-2 victory.

Lethbridge had an OK start to the game on Friday night, but Calgary found their legs midway through the 1st period and began to take control of play.

That led to the Hitmen opening the scoring at 14:36, when Calgary captain Mark Kastelic tipped home a point shot by Egor Zamula that eluded Carl Tetachuk making it 1-0.

That’s where things stood when the horn sounded to end the 1st period, with the Hitmen also ahead on the shot clock by an 11-7 margin.

Lethbridge would get things rolling early in the 2nd period.

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Jordy Bellerive slid a cross over to Nick Henry who blew by a Hitmen defender and put the puck past Calgary starter Jack McNaughton to even the score 1-1.

The Hitmen didn’t waste long taking back the lead, as not even two minutes later a shot by Devan Klassen hit Tetachuk up high and fell into the net making it 2-1 for Calgary.

Around the midway point of the middle frame, both teams would up the nastiness expected in the playoffs.

Multiple whistles were met with numerous scrums at different parts of the ice as the two Central Division rivals got to know each other a little better.

Following three point-blank chances that Tetachuk managed to keep out of the net, the Hurricanes would have an answer at the other end.

Jake Elmer hit the line with speed but overskated the puck just a bit, but managed to get it over to Dylan Cozens who hammered home his first of the playoffs past McNaughton to tie the game 2-2 with under nine minutes to play in the 2nd.

Just before the buzzer for the second intermission controversy would rear its ugly head.

The Hurricanes go-ahead goal scored by Taylor Ross was called back for goaltender interference, as the referee deemed Jake Elmer had made contact. The crowd at the ENMAX Centre was not happy about the decision, and let referee Kyle Kowalski know it, but the call stood, so it was 2-2 heading to the 3rd period.

Both the Hitmen and Hurricanes went back and forth in the 3rd, but the goaltending duel meant we were headed for overtime.

In extra time it was Calen Addison walking the line and ripping a wrist shot from the point that beat a screened McNaughton to give the Hurricanes a 3-2 win, and a 1-0 lead in the series.

Head Coach Brent Kisio was happy with the win but thought his team could’ve been better.

“I thought we were OK; I don’t know if we were nervous or tentative but give Calgary a lot of credit. They played hard, and both goaltenders played good too.”

Kisio was pleased with how his team responded after that the no-goal call in the 2nd period.

“I actually thought out best period was OT. I thought we played hard in overtime; we got traffic in front and got a shot through.”

The goalscorer, Calen Addison, says the puck popped out to him and he saw he had some time to make a play.

“I kept walking, waited until I could freeze the guy up high, and just shot it. It was an unbelievable screen, and that’s something we were talking about a lot was getting guys in front of their goalie’s eyes. I think that was the key to that goal for sure, and we’re just happy to get a win,” Addison stated.

Finals shots in Game 1 were even at 33 apiece, while the Hurricanes finished 0-for-4 on the powerplay and the Hitmen 0-for-1.

Game 2 between the Hurricanes and Hitmen goes tomorrow night back at the ENMAX Centre beginning at 7 p.m.