The Moose Jaw Warriors’ recent string of third period struggles once again reared its head on Friday night, and this time it came in one of the most anticipated games of the season.
The Saskatoon Blades scored three times in the final frame, including the game-winner with three minutes gone in third, as they took a 6-3 victory in Western Hockey League action.
The contest was essentially a playoff preview between two teams with nothing to play for in the remainder of the regular season. Moose Jaw fell to 41-20-0-4 and will finish third in the Eastern Conference due to the Central Division leaders earning the second seed; Saskatoon is 47-12-2-3 and has clinched the East Division and Eastern Conference crowns.
The Warriors took absolutely no time to get on the board, thanks to a chance off the rush that saw Pavel McKenzie send a cross-crease pass to captain Denton Mateychuk, and he’d sneak a shot through Evan Gardner’s five-hole only 46 seconds into the proceedings.
As became a theme in the game, the Blades got that one back quickly. A shot from the point by Brandon Lisowsky went off a body in front, off the post, off Unger’s pad and into the Warriors net with 6:51 gone.
The Blades received their first power play of the game late in the first but it was the Warriors who would capitalize. Atley Calvert forced a turnover at the blueline and went in on a breakaway before scoring on shot blocker side with 20 seconds to play in the period.
Saskatoon got that right back on the same power play, when Alexander Suzdalev was left alone behind the net and used the lacrosse move to tie the game 2-2 with four seconds left.
The Blades had another power player to start the second period, but no sooner did it end than did the Warriors regain their lead.
Jagger Firkus had a shot go off the post seconds earlier, but Mateychuk would corral the puck and get off a shot that deflected in front and went to Firkus at the side of the net. The WHL scoring leader would poke the puck over the line to make it 3-2 at the 2:10 mark and give him 112 points on the season.
Mateychuk’s assist gave him 210 points in his career and moved him into second all-time in scoring ahead of Scott Schoneck and two points back of Nathan Paetsch.
Saskatoon once again tied things up three minutes later, when Firkus was hauled down in the Blades zone to create an odd-man rush, eventually leading to Tyler Parr putting a shot through a screen in front.
And then came the final 20 minutes.
The Blades took their first lead of the game three minutes into the third when a bad line change led to another odd-man rush, and Trevor Wong would find Easton Armstrong with the backdoor pass for the 4-3 lead.
Things didn’t improve from there over the next seven minutes, as Saskatoon would outshoot the Warriors 10-0 in that span but were only kept in the game by Unger playing exceptionally well. Moose Jaw didn’t get their first shot in the frame until the 9:27 mark.
The pressure paid off for Saskatoon with 9:38 gone, as they scored their third-straight goal thanks to Suzdalev being left all alone in the slot for a pass from Wong on the end boards.
A little over a minute later, the Blades continued to outwork the Warriors and create space due to lax defending, leading to Lisowsky making it a 6-3 game.
Unger finished the game with 36 saves, Gardner stopped 26, including a mere five in the third period.
The two teams are right back at it on Saturday night at the Moose Jaw Events Centre. Game time is 7 p.m.
