After putting together one of their best offensive performances of the season less than a week ago, the Moose Jaw Warriors have suddenly run into hard times.
Facing the Western Conference last-place Spokane Chiefs -- a team with 15 fewer wins and 27 fewer points in the standings -- the Warriors struggled defensively, surrendering a slew of odd-man rushes on their way to dropping a 5-2 decision at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
The Warriors fell to 19-12-0-0 and are now six points back of the Saskatoon Blades for third place in the Western Hockey League Eastern Conference, a point up on the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
The loss was the second straight for Moose Jaw after their 9-2 win over Edmonton on Friday, with a 6-2 loss to sub-.500 Medicine Hat on Saturday offering another tough showing.
Spokane got off to a solid start, creating a handful of chances in the opening minutes, including a pair of two-on-one breaks that ended up with wide-open shots sailing over the net and another where Warriors starter Jackson Unger had to make a stellar post-to-post save.
Carter Streek made another of those Warriors defensive breakdowns pay at the 5:57 mark. Streek broke in on an odd-man rush and took a pass off the boards from former Warrior Cade Hayes, going in alone on Unger and managing to tuck a shot home.
The Chiefs made it 2-0 with just over six minutes to play, with Chase Bertholet taking a feed in the slot from Ty Cheveldayoff and getting off a quick shot through traffic.
Spokane continued to generate odd-man chances to start the second, and shortly after Unger stopped Streek on a breakaway, the Chiefs would strike again. Streek found Tommaso De Luca on the rush and he’d split a pair of defenders before roofing a shot glove side with 5:27 gone in the frame.
The Warriors had a flurry of chances on Spokane netminder Dawson Cowan midway through the period -- including a puck that bounced over Jagger Firkus’ stick in close and a hit post by Eric Alarie seconds later -- but sure enough, it would be the Chiefs would who score on their next trip down the ice.
De Luca scored his second of the game, simply cruising through the Warriors zone and putting a shot on net that found its way past a screened Unger.
The breaks continued to go Spokane’s way in the third, this time when De Luca outraced a Warriors defender to the end boards and found a streaking Streek in the slot for Spokane’s fifth goal.
The Warriors finally snapped Dawson’s shutout bid with 8:14 to play in the game, and it took maximum effort to get the job done. Robert Baco picked up the puck at the side of the net and jammed away until it finally popped over the pad of Cowan and into the net.
Harper Lolacher made it a three-goal game five minutes later, jumping on a rebound in front of the Spokane net and putting a shot home, but that would be as close as the Warriors would get.
Unger finished with 29 saves on the night, while Dawson turned aside 33 to earn the win.
The Warriors are back in action on Friday night for their final home game before the Christmas break when they take on the Regina Pats. Game time is 7 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
