Saskatoon, SK — The Moose Jaw Warriors pulled out a gutsy road win in Saskatoon on Wednesday night.
Max Wanner scored the overtime winner to give the Warriors a 5-4 win over the Blades at SaskTel Centre, sweeping their home-and-home set and giving Moose Jaw four straight wins.
“It was a good team overall effort, sometimes you have those nights where you get outshot and you need your goalie to stand tall and tonight he did,” Wanner said after the win.
Connor Ungar made 39 saves as the Warriors were heavily outshot 43-17 on the night.
“He was spectacular,” Wanner said. “He’s been like that all season and I’m sure he’ll keep it up the rest of the year.”
Despite being outshot 12-4 in the first, the Warriors only trailed 1-0, but the team found its stride in the second period, scoring four goals on nine shots to take a 4-3 lead after two.
Warriors assistant coach Scott King said the Blades pushed back after losing on Tuesday in Moose Jaw, but the Warriors weathered the storm.
“It took us a bit to find our legs and once we did, the second period was a little bit better, find the back of the net, get some energy that way and was one of those nights where they pressed all game,” King said.
The Warriors’ four second-period goals came in a span of 6:29 as the team clicked.
Atley Calvert tied the game at 1-1 just 6:52 into the second period with his 24th of the season.
Saskatoon answered back when Connor Roulette scored only 10 seconds later to retake the lead, but the Warriors had a response of their own, scoring 1:42 after that when Ryder Korczak fired home his 18th of the year.
Only 1:13 later, Jagger Firkus snapped home his 23rd of the year to give the Warriors their first lead of the game.
Just 3:24 after that, Calvert found a rebound in front and buried his team-leading 25th of the season to give the Warriors a 4-2 lead.
Roulette would score his second of the period with 1:52 to play in the middle frame to make it a one-goal game heading into the third.
The Blades pressed early in the third, but Ungar made some stellar saves to keep the Warriors in front, however, Saskatoon would find the equalizer midway through the frame from Trevor Wong to force overtime.
Only 45 seconds into the extra period, Wanner broke down the wing and roofed his eighth of the season to give the Warriors the win.
“I kind of felt like Jagger Firkus there, just walking down and roofing it,” Wanner said on the game-winner. “It felt good for the confidence and to finally put one home.”
The Warriors now sit tied with Saskatoon for third place in the Eastern Conference and lead the season series 3-1.
Moose Jaw will head to Winnipeg this weekend for two games against the ICE, who are the top ranked team in the Canadian Hockey League.