Swift Current, SK — A massive comeback came up just short for the Moose Jaw Warriors on Saturday night.
Down 6-1 early in the third, the Warriors scored five straight goals to tie the game at 6-6 before falling to the Swift Current Broncos, 7-6, at the InnovationPlex.
“We put the pressure on them, you could see that they were right on their heels, but the problem is you can’t do that for 20 minutes, it’s got to be a 60-minute effort,” Warriors associate coach Scott King said.
The loss snaps a five-game winning streak for the Warriors.
Jagger Firkus had two goals and three points, while Martin Rysavy and Atley Calvert finished with a goal and two assists each in the loss.
The Warriors trailed for much of the night, but put together an inspired charge in the third period to tie the game, scoring four goals in 2:28 and then tying the game later in the period.
“We didn’t come out with the win, we should be proud of period, but we’ve got to learn from the first two [periods],” Rysavy said after the game.
Swift Current opened the scoring on a goal from Ty Coupland just 3:28 into the game.
Rysavy answered for the Warriors with a power play goal, his 15th of the season, 3:40 later to tie the game.
The Broncos would retake the lead later in the first when Luke Mistelbacher scored to make it 2-1 after one.
The second period was all Swift Current as they picked up goals from Coupland, Mistelbacher and Connor Hvidston to take a 5-1 lead after 40.
Connor Gabriel extended the Broncos’ lead to 6-1 only 11 seconds into the third period, but the Warriors started to fight back after that.
Calvert scored his 24th of the season only 1:10 later and that was followed up by Ethan Semeniuk wiring home his seventh of the season only 24 seconds later, cutting the Broncos’ lead in half.
Firkus made it a two-goal game 1:36 later, lifting home his 29th of the season for his 250th career Western Hockey League point.
Only 28 seconds after that, Rilen Kovacevic broke in and scored his 13th of the season, and third in four games with the Warriors, to make it a one-goal game.
Just past the midway point of the third, the Warriors would tie it when Firkus picked up his second of the game and 30th of the season.
The tie game was short-lived as Swift Current answered back 2:03 later on a goal from Josh Filmon and they would hold on from there.
“We need a better D zone, puck management and we weren’t hard enough, the first two periods, especially the first period, we gave up 5-6 odd man rushes, so we’ve got to clean that up,” Rysavy said.
Dimitri Fortin made 32 saves in the loss for Moose Jaw, while the Warriors were outshot 39-34 on the night.
The Warriors finished 2-for-4 on the power play and 1-for-2 on the penalty kill.
Moose Jaw will get a few days off to regroup before hosting the Victoria Royals on Wednesday night at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.