Over the past few seasons, the Moose Jaw Warriors have had situations like their most recent contest where things ended up going rather poorly for the local Western Hockey League squad.
Create a lot of pressure off the hop, make one mistake and the puck ends up in the back of your net, and the rest of the night ends up being a struggle.
And while that could have been the case when the Edmonton Oil Kings scored the game’s opening goal at the Moose Jaw Events Centre on Wednesday night, the Warriors were having none of it.
Jagger Firkus scored a hat trick. Ryder Korczak picked up three assists and the Warriors would go on to a 6-3 victory over the last-place team in the Eastern Conference.
The Warriors improved to 33-16-0-3 with their third-straight victory, moving within a single point of Saskatoon for third in the Eastern Conference while extending their lead over Lethbridge for fourth to 10 points.
Moose Jaw had all sorts of chances in the opening 10 minutes and were outshooting Edmonton 8-1 at one point in the period, but it would be the Oil Kings who broke through first. Loick Daigle put home a rebound off a shot by Vojtech Port at 9:33 of the opening frame, with the goal coming on Edmonton’s second power play of the game.
Moose Jaw didn’t blink, though, and kept up the pressure as the period progressed. It all led to the Warriors taking a 2-1 lead out of the opening period with a pair of goals in the final five minutes.
“When they score a goal I think that’s when a lot of us put pressure on ourselves to go out there and do our job,” Firkus said of the quick response. “There have been a lot of games where we’ve been down and come back to win, and while a lot of teams would give up after getting down like that, it’s great to see that we don’t give up.”
It certainly didn’t hurt that the Warriors were creating pressure from the get-go, and even with the opening goal, that didn’t change.
“That’s big for our team at the start, you can tell if you start slow that it climbs into the rest of the game, so getting off to a good start is huge,” Firkus said.
Logan Dowhaniuk tied the game with 3:25 to play in the frame, taking a feed in the right face-off circle from Matthew Gallant and getting off a shot that Oil Kings goaltender Logan Cunningham could only get a piece of.
The Warriors then received their first power play of the contest with under a minute to play, and they’d get a bit of luck. Firkus got a shot off from the left side of the slot, and the puck would bank off a player in front and into the Edmonton net to give the Warriors their lead.
Things continued much the same way as the second period progressed, and Firkus would extend the Warriors’ edge with 4:09 left in the frame. Ben Riche found the Seattle Kraken prospect alone in the slot, and a quick shot later, it was 3-1 Moose Jaw.
That goal seemed to put a spark into the Oil Kings, and after a run of sustained pressure of their own, they’d get back within one thanks to a goal from Mason Finley with 1:58 to play in the period.
Firkus then finished off his hat trick 1:55 into the third, with Korczak winning a face-off and driving straight ahead, getting a pass across the crease and the 18-year-old Irma, Alta. would make no mistake putting the puck into the open net.
Only 1:17 later Brayden Yager made it a three-goal lead, taking a pass out front from Atley Calvert and slipping a shot home short side.
Gavin Hodnett got one back for Edmonton 4:31 into the period, but the next Warriors power play with just over seven minutes to remaining saw Moose Jaw restore their three-goal lead.
Calvert worked his usual magic, stationing himself in front of the net and tipping a Korczak point shot home for his team-leading 31st goal of the season.
Gallant and Riche each picked up two assists in the win.
Jackson Unger was decidedly unbusy in the Warriors' net, stopping 17 shots total and never facing more than a half-dozen scoring chances in any period. The Warriors had 42 shots on Cunningham.
The Warriors are back in action on Saturday when they travel to Regina to face the Pats, with their next home action on Friday, Feb, 17 when they host the Winnipeg Ice. Game time is 7 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
