The Firkus Circus came to Lethbridge on Tuesday night, and now the Moose Jaw Warriors are a win away from advancing to the second round of the Western Hockey League playoffs.
Jagger Firkus scored a natural hat trick in the span of just over 13 minutes in the first and second periods and the Warriors would go on to an 6-2 victory in Game 3 of their best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarter-final.
The 18-year-old Seattle Kraken prospect finished the night with four points and now has four goals and eight points in three games, good enough for third in WHL playoff scoring.
The Warriors opened scoring 5:03 into the proceedings, and it was Atley Calvert who got things going. The 19-year-old 40-goal scorer broke in on the right wing and beat fellow Moose Jaw Minor Hockey product Bryan Thomson with a shot top shelf blocker side.
Lethbridge took advantage of their first power play of the game three minutes later. The Warriors had a couple of chances to clear the zone, but the Hurricanes were able to hold and eventually set up Jett Jones to tuck the puck in around Connor Ungar.
Despite plenty of Lethbridge pressure as the period progressed, the tie wouldn’t last the period, with Firkus restoring the Warriors lead with 1:08 to play in the frame. Brayden Yager played set-up man, finding Firkus at the side of the net, and he’d put on a nifty stickhandling show before lifting a backhand top shelf.
Some heads up hockey by Firkus led to the Warriors’ third goal midway through the second. He forced a neutral zone turnover, broke in on the right wing and to the net before finishing off a partial breakaway by putting home his own rebound.
Firkus then finished off his natural hat trick with 8:32 to play in the period, one-timing a pass to the side of the net from Yager to make it a 4-1 game.
Martin Rysavy extended the lead to four goals with 5:02 left in the period, and he had a bit of luck on his side, as he managed to get a piece of a wrist shot from the point by Firkus, only to have it deflect past Thomson and in.
Lethbridge was rewarded for some steady pressure in the Warriors’ zone midway through the third period when Brayden Edwards scored to make it a 5-2 game, but that would be as close as they’d get.
The Hurricanes pulled the goaltender for the final five minutes of the third but would be unable to score, and Calvert would finish things off with an empty-netter with 1.4 seconds to play.
All the offence was more than enough for Ungar, who continued his brilliant play in the post season with 24 saves. The Western Hockey League took notice on Monday, naming Ungar the Goaltender of the Week. All told, Ungar has now allowed four goals in 11 periods of play, giving the overage netminder a 1.09 goals against average and .960 save percentage, good enough for second in the league in both categories.
Thomson had 14 saves in two periods of work before Harrison Meneghin finished things off with five stops in the third.
The Warriors will now look to finish off the series when the two teams take the ice in Game 4 on Wednesday night. Puck drop is 7 p.m. from the Enmax Centre in Lethbridge.
