Through two games, the Eastern Conference Championship is setting up to be a battle.
For the second straight night, the two sides needed overtime to decide the game with the Moose Jaw Warriors falling 3-2 to the Saskatoon Blades in Game 2 on Saturday night at SaskTel Centre.
The best-of-seven series is now tied at 1-1 as it shifts to Moose Jaw for Games 3 and 4.
“There’s a swings and you’ve just got to ride those waves,” Warriors captain Denton Mateychuk said. “There’s going to be unlucky breaks like in the second, a couple of goals that they scored to get back in the game, so you’ve just got to be ready for that and adapt and overcome.”
In a flip from Game 1, the Warriors jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period of Game 2, but the Blades fought back.
The two teams went into the third period tied at 2-2 for the second straight game, but neither could find the go-ahead marker.
Fraser Minten won the game for Saskatoon with 6:54 to go in the first overtime.
“We had a really glorious opportunity, an empty net, to make it 3-0, I think if we score there, we’re sitting here talking about a different game,” Warriors associate coach Scott King said.
“It’s playoffs, it’s a game of inches and sometimes it goes your way and sometimes it doesn’t.”
After taking Game 1 in Saskatoon, the Warriors came out of the gates hungry for more in Game 2.
Atley Calvert gave the Warriors the lead with 7:27 to go in the first period as he finished off the rush for his fifth of the playoffs.
The Warriors extended their lead to 2-0 when Kalem Parker rifled home his second of the playoffs from the point with 2:40 left in the first.
After some missed opportunities late in the first, the Blades got a break midway through the second with a 4-on-3 power play and they capitalized on a goal from Tanner Molendyk.
Saskatoon would tie the game with 2:31 to go in the second as Brandon Lisowsky buried a rebound in front.
The two sides battled back-and-forth in the third with both sides getting eight shots on net.
The back-and-forth play extended into overtime where Saskatoon forced a turnover at their own blue line and raced back the other way. Minten would finish to give them a series-tying win.
“It’s very important to just flip the page,” Mateychuk said. “You can’t just sit back and be down on yourself after this one, we’ve got to turn the page and get back to work tomorrow and be ready for Tuesday.”
Jackson Unger stopped 34 of 37 shots in the loss, while the Warriors were outshot 37-27 on the night.
Moose Jaw went 0-for-2 on the power play, while Saskatoon finished 1-for-4 in the win.
The Warriors will now get to play in front of their home fans for the next two games, starting with Game 3 on Tuesday night at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
There are limited tickets available for both games, click here to purchase.