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Late power play goal Warriors' undoing in Game 3

Saskatoon scores on 5-on-3 after back-to-back delay of game penalties to Warriors, takes 3-2 win at Mosaic Place

Another Western Hockey League playoff game between the Moose Jaw Warriors and Saskatoon Blades, another close-as-can-be barnburner.

Only the result was the same, and now the Warriors will need four straight wins against one of the hottest teams in the WHL if they’re to survive their Eastern Conference quarter-final series, as they now trail three-games-to-none in the best-of-seven battle.

Max Gerlach scored with one second left on a 5-on-3 power play with 4:21 to play as the Saskatoon Blades took a 3-2 win on Tuesday at Mosaic Place.

“We chased the game right from the get-go, we didn’t start really well and it was from there that we were chasing,” said Warriors head coach Tim Hunter. “The good thing about it is we’re that close, we just have to apply ourselves a little more here and we’ll win a game, and that’ll change the series, obviously we’ll be done otherwise. They’re the favourite, they’re supposed to beat us in four straight, so we’re not going to go down without a fight and we’ll be ready to play again tomorrow night.”

Kyle Crnkovic gave the Blades a 1-0 lead with 1:57 left in the first period, capping off a series of sustained pressure in the Warriors end by taking a pass from Ryan Hughes and rifling a shot from the bottom of the left face-off circle short-side past Adam Evanoff.

Keenan Taphorn got the Warriors on the board midway through the second, taking a pass while wide open in the slot and beating Nolan Maier with a shot low to the blocker side to tie the game.

That goal broke a string of commanding play by the Blades and was the Warriors first real scoring chance in over half a period. It gave the Tribe some momentum, but wouldn’t last, as Kirby Dach tipped home a centering pass from the top of the crease with 2:45 remaining in the period to make it 2-1 Saskatoon.

The Warriors’ never-say-die style paid of early in the third as Carson Denomie found the puck in traffic during a goal mouth scramble, flipping a shot into the net net with Maier down and out. Brayden Tracey, who returned to the line-up after missing Games 1 and 2, picked up an assist.

Tracey had his own bad luck late in the third period, as his attempt to clear a puck from his own zone, only to have it end up in the stands with 6:20 remaining in the game. Only 32 seconds later, Josh Brook took a similar penalty, putting the Warriors down two men for nearly a minute and a half with 5:48 to play.

That set the stage for Gerlach as he slipped a shot through Evanoff’s five-hole from the top of the crease after the Warriors netminder had made a handful of outstanding saves. The Tribe would successfully kill the second penalty.

Tracey had a shot to tie the game in the literal last second of the third, but his shot went just past Maier’s outstretched right pad and wide of the net.

Evanoff turned aside 37 shots in taking the loss, Maier stopped 22 shots.

The Warriors were 0-for-3 on the power play, Saskatoon’s lone goal in five chances came on Gerlach’s marker.

Game 4 of the series takes place Wednesday at Mosaic Place. Game time is 7 p.m.

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