Two early goals and some big stops from Connor Ungar were all the Moose Jaw Warriors needed on Wednesday in Regina.
The Warriors skated to a 2-1 win over the rival Pats to sweep the home-and-home, which was extended due to this past weekend’s snow storm.
“It was a hard fought game from start-to-finish, I thought the kids did a really good job,” Warriors assistant coach Gord Burnett said. “We’re happy to come out of it with two points.”
The Warriors were shorthanded on the defensive side in the game as captain Denton Mateychuk was a last-minute scratch, forcing Moose Jaw to play with five defencemen on the night.
That didn’t slow down the Warriors, who have now won three out of four in the Trans-Canada Clash this season.
“When a guy like [Mateychuk] is out, our D just kind of keeps it simple,” Warriors goalie Connor Ungar said. “We’ve got a deep d-core and the guys played really good, played a simple game and that’s how you win 2-1.”
The win was the third straight for Moose Jaw. Ungar said the team is building momentum.
“The last two games have been our two best of the year, so we’re just continuously getting better,” he said.
Jagger Firkus opened the scoring for the Warriors with his fourth of the season, coming on the power play just 7:21 into the game.
The Warriors followed that up with another power-play goal from Brayden Yager just 4:34 later and that was enough to take the win.
Regina added a goal from Alexander Suzdalev late in the second period, but they couldn’t find the equalizer in the third.
Yager had some key face-off wins late in the third period and finished 20-for-32 in the face-off dot on the night.
Burnett said Yager showed how good he is in all areas of the game.
“He was skating really well tonight, I thought he did a good job on the face-offs, especially the late two, he wins those two and those are big for us,” he said. “Against a good forechecking team like Regina, you need that centre support and he did a good job of that.”
Ungar was a key part of the victory as well, making 19 saves, including seven in the third period to backstop the Warriors to the victory.
“The whole team was really good out,” Ungar said. “I thought it was real steady, I didn’t have to be spectacular, but I managed pucks well and gave our team a chance.”
The Warriors finished 2-for-3 on the power play and Regina went 1-for-3. Moose Jaw outshot the Pats 22-20 on the night.
The Warriors will now get Thursday off to prepare for a showdown with two U.S. Division teams this weekend. Everett comes to town on Friday and Tri-City is in downtown Moose Jaw on Saturday, it’s the first trip into the Friendly City for both teams in over 1,400 days.