A hat-trick courtesy of Brad Morrison helped propel the Lethbridge Hurricanes to a 5-1 win over the Swift Current Broncos at the Enmax Centre Tuesday night. The ‘Canes now trail the best of seven Eastern Conference Final series 2-1.
After outplaying the Broncos in the first two games of the series, the ‘Canes were finally rewarded with a win Tuesday night after an excellent game three performance, in which the Hurricanes out-shot Swift Current 34-24.
“As the game wore on, we started playing better and better and started playing the way we need to play,” Hurricanes Head Coach Brent Kisio said. “The O-zone time tonight was probably the most we’ve had in the series. In all the games we’ve been right there, tonight we just had a little bit of extra effort and found some ways to score goals.”
After getting goals from forwards Brad Morrison and Dylan Cozens In the second period, the ‘Canes led the Broncos 2-1 through fourty minutes.
In the third period the ‘Canes really started to take their game to another level. A little more than a minute into the final frame Cozens picked up a loose puck in the slot and snapped a shot past Broncos goalie Stuart Skinner to give the Hurricanes a 3-1 lead.
The ‘Canes continued to push the pace as Morrison scored two more times in the third period to finish with a hat-trick and give his team a 5-1 win.
It was yet another dazzling performance from Morrison, who is making the spectacular look routine in the playoffs. The Prince George Native now has 15 goals in the post-season, the most of any Lethbridge Hurricanes player in a single playoff run.
“In my career in the WHL I’ve been more of a passer, but lately I’ve been taking a bit more shots. I guess a lot of the time you get rewarded,” Morrison said. “It makes it a little easier on me with some of the guys I’m playing with that can help me out.”
The atmosphere at the Enmax Centre was electric in game three as nearly 5,000 fans showed up to cheer on their Lethbridge Hurricanes.
A place of jubilation for the ‘Canes has turned into a house of horrors for their opponents. The ‘Canes win Tuesday night makes them an undefeated 7-0 on home ice.
“It’s our fans man, its unbelievable playing and coaching in this rink,” Kisio said. “The support we get is absolutely outstanding.”
The fans even got after former goaltender Stuart Skinner Tuesday night, chanting his name after Cozens scored the Hurricanes third goal.
“It shows that the fans they don’t care about him anymore, they just care about us. He’s a good guy, we all liked him here, but he’s not on our team anymore we’ve got to score on him… We have great fans and so much confidence when playing here. They’re great, they’re cheering, they’re loud and they intimidate the other team I think.”
Emboldened by their fans, the ‘Canes hope to extend their home winning streak to eight games Wednesday night when they host the Broncos for game four of the series.
“Every game is always a must win,” Hurricanes goalie Logan Flodell said. “Tomorrow they’re going to come a lot more prepared. I thought we brought it to them tonight, obviously they had a couple guys out, but we stuck to our game plan got pucks deep and if we keep that going tomorrow, we’ll be fine.”
Lethbridge will have an opportunity to tie the series on Wednesday night at the Enmax Centre.
Comments