Moose Jaw, SK – After a start to forget, the Moose Jaw Warriors showed their resilience once again in Game 4 of the WHL Eastern Conference Championship, presented by Nutrien.
The Warriors overcame a 3-0 deficit just over eight minutes into the game, but ended up falling 5-4 in overtime to the Saskatoon Blades in Game 4 on Wednesday at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
The best-of-seven series now sits tied at 2-2 heading back to Saskatoon on Friday night.
“It’s obviously a bit of a disappointment to let that one slip away after how hard we battled back after the first period,” Warriors captain Denton Mateychuk said.
“There’s a lot of good things that came out of that game, but it stings a little bit.”
Saskatoon couldn’t have asked for a better start to the game with Brandon Lisowsky scoring just 14 seconds in and then Trevor Wong adding another only 1:07 into the game to make it 2-0 quickly.
The Blades would go in front 3-0 just 8:32 into the game when Alexander Suzdalez tipped in a point shot.
Warriors head coach Mark O’Leary said the start of the game was disappointing.
“The goals were one thing, but I just thought we stood around and watched,” he said. “But they did what they always do, they punched back and great to battle ourselves back into the game, but you can’t start like that.”
The Warriors would start their push back when Brayden Yager snapped home his ninth of the playoffs with 7:54 to go in the first.
Jagger Firkus cut the lead down to one with his 10th of the playoffs just 4:48 later.
Saskatoon restored the two-goal lead only 58 seconds later when Tanner Molendyk made it 4-2 after one with a point shot.
The Warriors started the second on the power play and Yager lifted home his 10th of the playoffs just 1:04 into the frame to make it a 4-3 game.
Just before the midway point of the second, Rilen Kovacevic batted home his third of the playoffs to tie the game.
After eight goals in the first half of the game, the two teams tightened up in the second half and the game went into overtime tied at 4-4.
In the extra frame, the Blades capitalized on a turnover in the Warriors zone and Egor Sidorov was the hero for Saskatoon, winning the game with just 3:29 gone in overtime.
“We’ve been through enough together that we know tomorrow’s a new day, the sun will come up and we’ll be ready to go,” O’Leary said.
Jackson Unger made 19 saves in the loss, while Evan Gardner turned away 33 shots in the win for Saskatoon.
The Warriors will look to turn the page quickly and get focused on Game 5 in Saskatoon.
“We’re going into their rink and got to get a win, everybody in the room knows that, but it’s about the little details that happen between now and Friday night,” Mateychuk said.
Game 5 goes on Friday in Saskatoon. The series comes back to Moose Jaw for Game 6 on Sunday at 2 p.m.