The Moose Jaw Warriors’ offence took a bit to get going, but it turned on the jets in the third period.
The Warriors scored four times in the third on their way to a 6-3 win over the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Wednesday night.
“The first period, we didn’t really start on time and we had a little chat in the room making sure that we were going to come out a lot harder, we knew we had more from this group in the second and third period, and we showed that,” Warriors forward Brayden Schuurman said.
Schuurman led the Warriors with a goal and three points, while six different players found the back of the net for Moose Jaw in the win.
Warriors assistant coach Curtis Pereverzoff said Schuurman’s line with Martin Rysavy and Rilen Kovacevic set the tone for the team in the win.
“They hunted pucks, they were tracking pucks, turning pucks over, so it was great to see them get rewarded,” he said. “It’s great to see [Brayden] get rewarded on the scoresheet, but he’s doing a lot away from it as well… very happy with Brayden’s game.”
The win was the third straight for the Warriors and eighth in the last nine games for the team as they sit third in the Eastern Conference with a 25-15-0-2 record, just four points back of Medicine Hat for second.
Moose Jaw outshot Lethbridge 18-9 in the first period, including hitting two posts, but found themselves down 1-0 after a power play goal from Miguel Marques.
Schuurman said the Warriors stuck with the game plan after a frustrating start.
“We know the group that we have in there and we have a lot of confidence, so sticking to our game plan was huge because it was just a matter of time before the puck did go in,” he said.
The Hurricanes made it 2-0 early in the second period when Sean Tschigerl capitalize on a turnover just 4:52 into the frame.
It was all Warriors after that though, starting with Matthew Savoie scoring his third goal in two games since joining the team on the power play with 6:29 left in the second.
Only 1:32 later, Denton Mateychuk snapped home his ninth of the season to tie the game at 2-2 after two.
Just 55 seconds into the third period, Kalem Parker’s point blast found its way through for his fifth of the season and giving Moose Jaw its first lead of the game.
Schuurman would break in and put home his 12th of the season with 7:59 gone in the third to make it 4-2.
Only 1:22 after that, Atley Calvert tapped home his 25th of the season, on the power play, to extend the Warriors’ advantage to three.
Brayden Yager would finish off the onslaught, snapping home his 20th of the season with 8:02 to go in the game.
Lethbridge picked up a late goal from Dylan Sydor, but that was as close as they were able to get.
Newly acquired goalie Evan May made 22 saves to get a win in his first start with the Warriors.
The Warriors’ top-ranked power play continued to shine, finishing 2-for-4 in the win, while the team went 2-for-3 on the penalty kill as well.
Moose Jaw will now get ready for a big weekend match-up with the Swift Current Broncos. The home-and-home set starts on Friday in Swift Current and then they battle at the Hangar on Saturday night.