With the way the Western Hockey League has played out through the first month of the season, it hasn’t taken long to figure out that teams are going to be in for a battle night in and night out.
With that comes a need for consistency not only from game to game, but from period to period and shift to shift -- and while the Moose Jaw Warriors have found their share of wins to start the season, there’s the sense there’s bit left on the table in that area.
Friday’s win over the Brandon Wheat Kings offered the latest example, as the Warriors struggled to put away their opponents at the Moose Jaw Events Centre before finally finishing things off in overtime.
All told, Jagger Firkus’ goal in the extra frame would lead to a 4-3 Warriors win, but not before more than a few close calls that could have seen the game turn the other way.
“I think it comes down to our starts (in periods),” said Warriors forward Atley Calvert, who was named the game’s first star after scoring a pair of goals. “There have been a couple times where we’ve come out flat in the third and have been on our heels instead of pushing the play forward, but at the end of the day we got the win here tonight and that’s all that matters.”
Neither team had a ton of chances in the first period, but the Warriors had one of the best with just over five minutes to play in the frame. Martin Rysavy was slashed while going in on a breakaway and received a penalty shot, but Brandon goaltender Carson Bjarnason was able to get his right pad down to make the save on the deke.
Two minutes later, the Warriors broke through, with Calvert doing what Atley does. The 20-year-old forward staked his spot in front of the net during the Warriors’ first power play and tipped home a Denton Mateychuk point shot to give the Warriors a 1-0 lead out of the opening frame.
Calvert used the Warriors’ second power play to pick up his second of the game two minutes into the second. Jagger Firkus found Calvert with a lightning-quick pass to the top of the crease and he’d tip the puck top corner for the 2-0 edge.
The goals came after three scoreless outings for the for the former 40-goal scorer, and even though Calvert has had points in six of his last seven games, finding the back of the net remains paramount.
“It’s been a struggle at times to create offence, especially in the last little bit, so it’s nice when they go in,” Calvert said. “You just have to keep going because the puck is always going to be (at the front of the net). Just keep it simple and keep working hard.”
As has been the case a little too often this season, the Warriors couldn’t make the lead stick.
Brandon got one back eight minutes later when Carter Klippenstein circled out of the corner and put a shot on net that went through three sets of legs before finding the back of the Warriors’ goal.
Three minutes later Brett Hyland tied the game, finishing off an odd-man rush with a perfect shot top shelf.
The Warriors didn’t take long to regain the lead, as Lynden Lakovic got a shot off in traffic right off a face-off in the Brandon zone that eluded Bjarnason nine seconds later.
The one-goal edge didn’t last three minutes into the third period, as Nolan Flamand pounced on a rebound to the side of the net 2:43 into the third to tie the game 3-3.
Seeing the game get to overtime was less than ideal in Calvert’s eyes, and he felt a little more attention to detail could solve some of the issues they had holding the lead.
“The second goal was just tracking them and the third goal was losing defensive zone coverage and those are things we can work on and fix,” he said. “As long as we’re working hard, that’s when we’re at our best, and that’s what we’re going to need to keep doing.”
For all his work to keep Brandon in the game -- including 18 saves in the second period -- there was little Bjarnason could do on the overtime goal. Firkus used the defenceman for a screen and beat the Brandon netminder with a shot glove side 2:22 into the extra frame.
Jackson Unger picked up the win and had a relatively calm night, facing a total of 30 shots. That’s not to say he didn’t have to be sharp, especially in overtime when Brandon had a handful of great scoring chances in the first couple of minutes.
The Warriors ended up with 42 shots on Bjarnason.
Moose Jaw improved to 11-8-0-0 with the victory and are once again within two points of the Eastern Conference lead, trailing Saskatoon and Medicine Hat.
Sure enough, those are the two teams they’ll face next, with the Tigers in town on Friday night before the Blades make the trip south on Tuesday. Both games are at 7 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
