Moose Jaw, SK — A quick turnaround didn’t slow down the Moose Jaw Warriors on Sunday afternoon.
The Warriors scored three times in the first ten minutes and then held on for a 5-4 win over the Prince Albert Raiders at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
“Good start, played real well, unfortunately at the end of the game, we let them get back in it, I give PA a lot of credit, they kept pushing, we were fortunate there at the end of the game, our goalie made some saves and it was a nail biter,” Warriors associate coach Scott King said
Jagger Firkus led the charge in the win, picking up his second hat trick of the season against the Raiders, giving him 16 goals in 14 games so far this season.
Firkus said the team is happy to get the win, but wants to see a more complete game.
“I don’t think that was our greatest performance, our first was a good period, but throughout the whole season, whenever we’re going in with the lead in the second and third, we’ve been too comfortable,” he said.
Firkus opened the scoring with his 14th of the season only 4:01 into the game.
Lynden Lakovic followed that up only 1:25 later, scoring his sixth of the season to quickly make it 2-0 for the Warriors.
Moose Jaw added to the lead only 4:04 after that when Firkus broke in shorthanded for his second of the night.
Early in the second, Denton Mateychuk wired home his third of the season to make it a four-goal advantage for the Warriors.
Prince Albert started to find their footing as the period went on and picked up goals from Matej Kubiesa and Harrison Lodewyk only 2:15 apart to cut the lead to 4-2.
Firkus’ hat trick goal put the Warriors back in front by three heading into the third.
Krzysztof Macias pulled the Raiders back within two only 1:53 into the third and then Hayden Parkkala made it a one-goal game late, but the Warriors were able to hold on.
“We knew that they would have a bit of heavy legs to start the game and we took advantage of that,” King said. “You could see towards the end of the first period and in the second, they started to get their legs underneath them and push.
“They’re a hard working team, so you’ve got to earn your wins against them.”
Dimitri Fortin came up big for the Warriors over the final 20 minutes, making 13 saves in the third and 29 overall to backstop the team to his first win in the Western Hockey League.
The win moved the Warriors into first place in the Eastern Conference with a 10-6-0-0 record. Moose Jaw is also the first team in the WHL to get to double digit wins this season.
“That’s good on the team that we did come out with the win tonight, so you still got to be happy,” Firkus said. “Hopefully we can keep things rolling.”
The Warriors will travel to Alberta next week for games against Edmonton and Calgary.