The Moose Jaw Warriors were two different teams on Saturday night in Medicine Hat.
The team that showed up in the first half of the game was tentative and had difficulty controlling the puck for any stretch of time, even struggling on the power play.
The team in the second half of the game was what everyone observing the local squad expects them to be -- fast, aggressive and as dangerous as any team in the league on the man advantage.
The Warriors scored three goals in the final 10 minutes of the second period and turned in a stellar defensive showing in the final frame to take a 4-3 victory over the Tigers in Western Hockey League action.
Moose Jaw improved to 4-2 with the win and moved into a tie for second place in the Eastern Conference pending other results on Saturday.
The Warriors had a great opportunity to take an early lead when the Tigers’ Cayden Lindstrom was hit with a double-minor for high-sticking Ethan Semeniuk, but the struggles on the power play they showed the night before were still there and then some.
Other than a span of 10 seconds to start the penalty, the Warriors had absolutely no pressure, struggled to gain the Tigers zone and ended up with no shots through the entire four minute span.
That ended up being a harbinger of the rest of the period, as the vast majority of play was in the Warriors zone, and if not for goaltender Jackson Unger, things would have gotten out of hand quickly.
But as things tend to go in hockey, the Warriors would get on the board first, and shorthanded at that.
Some great work along the boards led to Jagger Firkus creating a turnover at the Medicine Hat blueline, and he set up Brayden Yager for the opening goal of the game with 4:39 to play in the period.
The Warriors received their second power play a few minutes later, and things actually went worse than the first time around, as Medicine Hat’s Hunter St. Martin scored on a shorthanded two-on-one to tie things up with 1:55 to play in the frame.
The Tigers took the lead in the second period on their second power play of the game, with Shane Smith putting a shot through a screen that found the back of the net at the 8:02 mark.
Medicine Hat continued to take penalties, though, with back-to-back cross-checking and high-sticking minors giving the Warriors 1:23 on the two-man advantage, and this time things were sorted out.
Kalem Parker scored his first as a Warrior at 10:29, finishing off a one-timer feed from Yager, and before the second penalty expired, Martin Rysavy scored his first of the season, battling for the puck in front of the net and stuffing home the puck after outduelling a defender.
The Warriors then struck shorthanded for a second time with 4:48 to play in the period, with Yager and Firkus once again working their magic. Yager started the play in the Warriors zone on a turnover and got a shot off in close on the ensuing rush, and Firkus would force a turnover in the corner before hitting Yager with a pass out front for the goal.
All told, the Warriors didn’t get their first shot on goal of the period until nearly the 10 minute mark, but would score on three of their next seven shots to take the 4-2 lead.
Neither team had much by way of momentum in the third period, but Medicine Hat got back to within a goal with 6:34 to play when Cayden Lindstrom was left all alone at the side of the goal and had multiple whacks at the puck after a huge save by Unger before it popped into the net.
That would be the final goal of the game, but not for all the pressure in the world from the Tigers in the final two minutes as they pressed with the goaltender pulled.
Unger made a handful of big saves as time wound down to cap his heroic effort with 32 stops on the night, while the Warriors had 22 shots on Tigers goaltender Evan May.
Moose Jaw is back in action on Tuesday night when they host the Calgary Hitmen. Game time is 7 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
