Moose Jaw, SK — Three goals in the second period were more than enough for the Moose Jaw Warriors on Thursday night.
The Warriors won their sixth straight game and extended their home winning streak to 11 games with a 4-2 victory over the Brandon Wheat Kings at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
“It wasn’t our best game tonight, we didn’t play a full 60 minutes, but we found a way to get it done even though we weren’t there for the full 60,” Warriors captain Denton Mateychuk said.
Moose Jaw now has a 34-16-0-2 record on the season, which gives them the second-highest win and point total in the Eastern Conference.
The Warriors and Wheat Kings ended the game with some fireworks and Assistant coach Curtis Pereverzoff said he liked the push back from the team.
“With Brandon, we’ve seen them a lot this year, we’ve had some pretty high emotional games with them, tough wins and tough losses, so that’s too be expected,” he said.
Mateychuk led the charge for the Warriors, who were shorthanded with Matthew Savoie, Ethan Semeniuk and Vojtech Port out of the lineup. The Warriors captain posted two assists in the win.
Jackson Unger made 28 saves to backstop Moose Jaw to the victory.
“They always play hard, they’re not far down the road, so we play them quite a few times in the same division, so there’s definitely a bit of a rivalry,” Mateychuk said.
The Warriors opened the scoring when Jagger Firkus scored a highlight reel goal with five minutes left in the first period. The goal extended his point streak to 25 games.
Brandon answered back only 38 seconds later when Jayden Wiens tied the game at 1-1 after one.
The Warriors took control in the second period as Lynden Lakovic scored his 12th of the season just 2:30 into the frame.
Then only 54 seconds later, Atley Calvert batted home his 36th of the year to extend the Warriors’ lead to two.
Midway through the second, Pavel McKenzie buried his 11th of the season, giving Moose Jaw a three-goal advantage heading into the third.
The Warriors held that lead until there was 1:53 left in the game as Caleb Hadland scored for the Wheat Kings, but it wasn’t enough.
“Our defensive zone and our neutral zone was a little shaky after the first period, but I thought offensive zone possession was pretty solid, we did a good job of managing pucks to the outside and getting pucks inside and the second period was a culmination of that,” Pereverzoff said.
The Warriors outshot the Wheat Kings, 37-30, in the win, while finishing 1-for-4 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.
Moose Jaw will host its final home game of February on Saturday when they welcome in the Calgary Hitmen for REMAX Presents: Nickelodeon Night In Support of the Children’s Miracle Network.
Following Saturday, the Warriors embark on an eight-game in 14-day road trip, starting on Monday in Swift Current.