By DARREN STEINKE

Cam Lanigan came up with the steal of the young WHL season for the Medicine Hat Tigers.

The overage netminder made 55 saves in regulation and overtime and turned away two shooters in a tiebreaking shootout to deliver the Tigers a 4-3 victory over the Kelowna Rockets. The Calgary product's first win in goal for the Tigers helped end a three-game losing streak for the club.

With the Tigers holding a 3-1 lead heading into the third period, Lanigan was shelled for 19 shots, and the Rockets tied the contest 3-3 with two solid goals. The equalizer came off the stick left-winger Zach Franko, who scored with 24.7 seconds to play in the third.

The Tabbies puck stopper, who was acquired in a trade last week from the Portland Winterhawks, made eight more stops in overtime to get the Tigers to a shootout.

"It was kind of a roller-coaster there," said Lanigan, whose Tigers improved to 5-8-1 with the win. "It felt like we were kind of holding out for the initial two points during regulation.

"They had the momentum in the overtime period there. They let me see everything in that final frame. For us to come down and bear down in the shootout, that is what shows our offensive side of some of our players.

"That was real nice to see too."

Once the game got to the shootout, the Tigers offensively skilled players took over. Hunter Shinkaruk and Elgin Pearce netted the only tallies in the tiebreaking session.

The Rockets came out flying with all the momentum during the start of Wednesday's contest outshooting the Tigers 8-1 at one point in the contest. While the visitors had all that pressure, centre Curtis Valk scored on Medicine Hat's second shot of the contest to give the hosts a 1-0 edge.

Just over three minutes after that tally, the Tigers and Rockets exchanged goals just 32 seconds apart from each other. Boston Leier put the Tigers up 2-0, while Rockets right-winger Myles Bell snuck a puck under Lanigan's pads.

"He (Lanigan) was huge," said Franko. "They relied on him heavily tonight.

"He is a good goalie. He is big. He moves really well. I think that he is getting a great opportunity here in Medicine Hat."

The teams played a lot more defensively in the second period. Just after the midway point of the frame, Valk blew home a point shot to the top left corner of the Kelowna goal to put the Tigers up 3-1.

The Rockets closed to within 3-2 scoring a power-play goal of their own at the 4:39 mark of the third period. Kelowna left-winger Filip Vasko fed a beautiful pass across the face of the Tigers goal to pinching defenceman Madison Bowey, who bagged his third of the season on the back door play.

Kelowna continued to surge with scoring chance after scoring chance, which finally resulted in Franko's equalizer. Jordon Cooke turned away 24 shots in goal over 65 minutes for the Rockets, who fell to 6-5-1-1.

While the Rockets deserved a better fate on the scoreboard, Tigers head coach and general manager Shaun Clouston hopes the win will be something his club can build on.

"We weathered some storms, but right now, we had a goaltender win us a hockey game," said Clouston. "I think the guys are really excited to have Cam (Lanigan) on our team right now.

"I believe that it is a beginning, and he is going to help turn things around a little bit here."

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