Saskatoon, SK — You can never count the Moose Jaw Warriors out of a hockey game.
After falling behind 3-0 after two periods, the Warriors fought their way back to make it a close finish in Saskatoon before falling 3-2 to the Blades on Friday night.
“The first period was a sleepy period and second period, I don’t think we played that well, but we pushed in the third and made it a game, but it’s the old saying, too little, too late,” Warriors associate coach Scott King said.
Atley Calvert and Denton Mateychuk scored in the third period to pull the Warriors within one late, but their late push fell short.
The loss drops Moose Jaw’s record to 12-9-0-1 and moves them three points back of Saskatoon for top spot in the East Division.
“We didn’t really start playing our game until the third period,” Calvert said. “We sat back for two periods and then when you dig yourself a 3-0 hole, it’s pretty tough to dig out.”
After a scoreless first period, the Blades came out firing in the second period, picking up three goals in a span of 2:26.
Jordan Keller opened the scoring just 6:47 into the middle frame and then Misha Volotosvskii followed that up only 59 seconds later to make it a quick 2-0 lead for Saskatoon.
The Blades’ third goal came off the stick of Ben Saunderson only 1:27 later to make it 3-0 after two.
Moose Jaw came out strong in the third and finally broke through with 10:28 gone in the final frame as Calvert tipped home his ninth of the season on the power play.
The Warriors went to the penalty kill with just over three minutes left in the game, but they were able to pull closer when Mateychuk potted his fifth of the season with 2:20 left.
That goal extended Mateychuk’s point streak to 15 games. The Columbus Blue Jackets first round pick has a point in every game this season.
The Warriors pushed over the final two minutes, but couldn’t find the equalizer.
“We just treated [the third period] as a clean slate, anytime you’re down three, it’s a tall task, but we definitely came out strong and started generating more looks,” Calvert said.
“It all starts with work at the end of the day, that second period, we weren’t working and they were working and that was the turning point in the game, so we’ve got to start the game on time.”
The Warriors will look to bounce back when they return home on Saturday night for the team’s fourth annual Hockey Fights Cancer night against the Edmonton Oil Kings.
Puck drops at 7 p.m.