Despite some quality chances throughout the game, the Moose Jaw Warriors couldn’t breakthrough in Game 1 on Friday night.
The Warriors fell 7-2 to the Swift Current Broncos to open their second round series in front of a sold-out crowd at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
“It’s frustrating, especially first game of the second round and we had chances, but we pretty much handed them that game,” Warriors captain Denton Mateychuk said.
“We should all be hungry for a win [coming back for Game 2], that was flat out embarrassing tonight, 7-2 loss, that’s not good enough, so that’s just going to feed us some good energy tomorrow.”
Jagger Firkus had a goal and two points in the loss, while Brayden Yager scored the other goal for Moose Jaw.
Swift Current capitalized on some early opportunities to take control of the game and build up a 4-0 lead midway through the second period.
The Warriors battled back to make it 4-2 after two, but the Broncos regained control in the third period.
“I thought we looked a little bit tentative to start the game, but in saying that, I thought we generated more than enough chances to win the game,” Warriors associate coach Scott King said.
“Their goalie made some great saves and we had some real good looks that you can’t leave on the table. I liked the fact that we pushed back at the end of the second, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough.”
Brady Birnie and Josh Filmon scored 38 second apart late in the first period to give the Broncos a 2-0 lead after one.
Filmon added to the lead 8:25 into the second with a power play goal and then Birnie followed it up 4:32 later to give the Broncos full control up 4-0.
Moose Jaw found some life late in the second when Yager wired home his third of the playoffs on the power play with 1:28 to go in the period.
Only 1:16 later, the Warriors pulled within two when Firkus tipped home a shot from Vojtech Port to make it a 4-2 game after two.
The Broncos took back control early in the third with goals from Connor Hvidston, Mathew Ward and Ty Coupland to seal the victory.
Moose Jaw outshot Swift Current, 35-32, on the night.
On the special teams front, the Warriors went 1-for-4 with the man advantage, while the Broncos were 1-for-2 in the win.
These two teams will meet again on Saturday night in Downtown Moose Jaw for Game 2 at the Moose Jaw Events Centre. Puck drops at 7 p.m.