The Moose Jaw Warriors put together a gutsy effort to come away with a win in Game 2 on Saturday night.
The Warriors came back from down 4-2 in the second period to win 5-4 in overtime over the Brandon Wheat Kings, taking a 2-0 lead in their first round series.
“We were just trying to stay positive, we’ve been in bigger deficits before, we’re known for scoring a lot of goals, so being down two I don’t think fazed us and it was key to just stick together,” Lynden Lakovic, the overtime hero, said after the game.
Lakovic scored his first of the playoffs with 2:15 gone in the first overtime period to give the Warriors the win.
The 17-year-old said it was the biggest goal of his young career.
“[Rilen Kovacevic] put it right in my wheelhouse, so I thought I’d just whack it and it went in,” he said.
After taking Game 1, 7-4, on Friday night, the Warriors were pushed by the Wheat Kings in the rematch at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
Warriors assistant coach Curtis Pereverzoff said Brandon tested them, but Moose Jaw answered the challenge.
“That’s just part of playoff hockey, we knew that it was going to be a little bit tighter today,” he said. “We certainly had moments where we were on our heels and Brandon was pushing it, but you’ve got to find ways to win and at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how you do it.”
The Warriors jumped out to a lead 8:43 into the game when Brayden Yager banked in his first of the playoffs.
Brandon answered back with goals from Dominik Petr and Roger McQueen back-to-back to take their first lead of the series.
The Warriors responded late in the first period when Atley Calvert finished off a great feed from Matthew Savoie for a shorthanded goal, tying the game at 2-2 after one.
The Wheat Kings took control in the second period and went back in front when Rylen Roersma scored shorthanded seven minutes into the frame.
McQueen’s second of the night just over seven minutes later gave Brandon a two-goal lead.
Moose Jaw’s quick strike offence answered back in a big way late in the period with Savoie scoring with 1:57 to go in the frame to make it 4-3.
The Warriors tied it only 23 seconds later when Pavel McKenzie scored his first career playoff goal.
Both sides had chances in the third, but couldn’t convert, sending the game to overtime.
The Wheat Kings had chances right off the opening face-off in the extra frame, but Jackson Unger made four key saves and allowed Lakovic to win it with 2:15 gone in the period.
Unger made 30 saves in the win for the Warriors, while Carson Bjarnason stopped 34 shots in the loss.
Neither team has scored on the power play through two games with the Warriors going 0-for-9 so far and Brandon sitting at 0-for-4.
The two sides will meet again on Wednesday in Brandon for Game 3 and Game 4 goes on Thursday at Westoba Place.