A one-goal game going into the third period went sideways for the Moose Jaw Warriors on Saturday night.
The Tri-City Americans scored three goals in the final period to skate to a 6-2 win over the Warriors at the Moose Jaw Events Centre. The loss snapped Moose Jaw’s four-game winning streak.
“They work hard, they win their battles, they get to the middle of the ice, they get to the blue paint and that’s what we saw,” Warriors assistant coach Gord Burnett said after the loss.
“We definitely had some looks, especially early in the first period and if we score on those, maybe it’s a different hockey game.”
Denton Mateychuk and Max Wanner scored power play goals in the loss for Moose Jaw, who dropped to 8-5-0-0 on the season.
“There were times when we pushed back and there were times where we just let them give it to us, so we’ll learn from that one,” Mateychuk said.
The Warriors came away with four out of six points during their three games in four nights this week.
Mateychuk said the Americans were able to frustrate the Warriors with their structured play throughout the night.
“They grind you down, they’re a hard-working team, they get pucks deep and they just go to work and sometimes that can get a little frustrating,” he said.
Lukas Dragicevic opened the scoring with a power play goal just 5:17 into the game.
That lead held until early in the second period when Mateychuk fired home his third of the season, on the power play, to tie the game at 1-1 only 5:11 into the second.
The Americans answered back with Parker Bell scoring on a three-on-one to retake the lead at 9:23 and then Drew Freer put Tri-City up by two only 2:04 later.
On the power play with just under four minutes to play in the second, Moose Jaw cut the lead back down to one going into the third when Wanner blasted home his second of the season.
The Warriors picked up an early power play in the third, but it was the Americans that capitalized when Ethan Ernst scored on a breakaway to make it a two-goal game once again and that was all the insurance that Tri-City needed.
The Americans added goals from Tyson Greenway and Adam Mechura in the second half of the third to seal the victory.
Tri-City outshot Moose Jaw 17-7 in the third period and 39-32 overall in the game.
The Warriors finished 2-for-4 on the power play and 4-for-6 on the penalty kill in the loss.
Next action for the Warriors is coming up next weekend, they will travel to Prince Albert on Friday and then host the Red Deer Rebels on Saturday at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
Both games can be heard on Country 100 with the voice of the Warriors' James Gallo.