A four-goal second period was enough for the Moose Jaw Warriors on Saturday night.
Moose Jaw scored four times in the middle frame on its way to a 4-3 win over the Brandon Wheat Kings at Westoba Place.
“We were on it, we looked good right from the start, we were hunting pucks down, we created lots of zone time,” Warriors assistant coach Scott King said.
Ryder Korczak, Ben Riche, Eric Alarie and Brayden Yager did the damage for the Warriors in the second.
Jagger Firkus finished with two assists and Connor Ungar was stellar with 39 saves, including 28 over the final two periods.
Two of the Warriors’ goals came on the power play and the team has now scored with the man advantage in eight straight games. The power play is working at over 40 percent in January.
“It almost feels like we’ve got a chance to score every time we jump over the boards [on the power play],” King said. “It’s five guys working together, there’s some real good chemistry, they know where everyone’s going to be on the ice and they’re creating looks.”
Brandon opened the scoring on a goal by Dawson Pasternak midway through the first period, but the Warriors took over in the second.
Korczak scored his 17th of the season, on the power play, just 5:31 into the second to tie the game.
Just 2:27 later, Riche fired home his fifth of the season to put the Warriors in front.
Only 59 seconds after that, Alarie buried his 13th of the season to make it a 3-1 lead for Moose Jaw.
Brayden Yager would make it a three-goal lead, breaking up a 10-game goal scoring slump with his 19th of the season.
Brandon’s Nolan Flamand scored a power play goal early in the third and then Zakhar Polshakov added a shorthanded goal late to make it a one-goal game, but the Warriors would hold on.
The win gave the Warriors an all important two points and a sweep of their weekend games. Moose Jaw ended up collecting five out of eight points during a busy four-in-five stretch.
“I like the way we’re playing, we’re getting real good goaltending, the D are really moving the puck well and our forwards are generating goal time and scoring goals,” King said.
“It’s a huge week coming up here, back-to-back with Saskatoon, those are huge games… it’s going to be a real tough test, it’s going to be four real tough games against two good teams.”
The Warriors return to the ice on Tuesday to host the Saskatoon Blades to kick-off a home-and-home between the third and fourth place teams in the Eastern Conference.
They meet again on Wednesday in Saskatoon and then the Warriors travel to Winnipeg on the weekend on Saturday and Sunday.
Click here to take advantage of the Two-For-Tuesday ticket deal for this Tuesday’s game against Saskatoon.