Moose Jaw, SK — The Moose Jaw Warriors peppered the Swift Current Broncos’ net, but came up short on Friday night.
The Warriors ended up falling 6-3 to the Broncos at the Moose Jaw Events Centre to open up the weekend.
“We definitely generated enough looks to win the game, in saying that, I thought we obviously gave up too much,” Warriors associate coach Scott King said.
The loss drops Moose Jaw’s record to 13-10-0-1 this season.
After falling behind 5-3 through two periods, the Warriors outshot the Broncos 17-9 in the third as the team looked to close the gap, but they couldn’t pull any closer.
“I thought we did enough to score goals and create the opportunities to score goals, but we didn’t do enough in our own zone, checking to prevent those goals, so it’s disappointing,” King said.
Atley Calvert scored twice for Moose Jaw, while Martin Rysavy picked up the other marker in the loss.
Denton Mateychuk finished with two assists as he extended his WHL-high point streak to 17 games.
The Warriors had chances offensively, firing 44 shots in total, but the team ended up giving up 48 shots to the Broncos, who capitalized early on their chances.
“We were going to the right spots, but willing to check and win those puck battles wasn’t there tonight,” Warriors forward Lynden Lakovic said. “They obviously have some good players and they capitalize on those chances.”
Rysavy opened the scoring for the Warriors with a power play goal midway through the first period, but the Broncos struck back with goals from Brady Birnie, Josh Filmon and Clarke Caswell to take a 3-1 lead late in the first.
Moose Jaw pulled back within one when Atley Calvert potted his 11th of the season with a minute to play in the first.
Calvert struck again just 3:07 into the second period to tie the game at 3-3, but the Broncos answered again with Luke Mistelbacher scoring only 52 seconds later.
Ryan McCleary extended Swift Current’s lead to back up to two with a goal later in the second and Filmon’s second of the night into an empty net late in the third sealed the win.
“We’ve just got be willing to check, that’s the bottom line,” Lakovic said.
The Warriors will look to bounce back on Saturday when they travel to Northern Saskatchewan to face the Prince Albert Raiders. Puck drops at 7 p.m.