After getting off to a tough start on their west-coast road swing, the Moose Jaw Warriors have been nothing but aces since.
The Warriors picked up their third-straight win on Wednesday night and looked impressive while doing so, battling to a 4-3 victory over the U.S. Division-leading Portland Winterhawks at Veterans Coliseum in Portland.
The win was significant on a handful of fronts. First, it saw the Warriors improve to 37-19-0-2 and put another two points between themselves and Medicine Hat for second place in the Eastern Conference. The victory also sees the Warriors move a single point away from clinching a playoff spot, which they can do on Friday night in Everett.
The Warriors got off to a great start and had a handful of chances in the first couple minutes -- including a short breakaway by Pavel McKenzie -- but they were unable to get an early one like their previous game in Spokane.
The teams settled into a back-and-forth from there, and while the Winterhawks had the better of the ice time for a span, the Warriors would have the better scoring chances, led by a three-on-one that resulted in Brayden Yager just missing on a feed from Jagger Firkus.
The early chances paid off with 6:32 to play in the first. Atley Calvert picked up a loose puck along the boards and sent a pass behind the net for Lynden Lakovic, who found Matthew Savoie in the slot for a quick low shot and the opening goal.
Savoie and Ethan Hughes had chances late in the period, but the game would remain 1-0 after 20 minutes.
A couple of power plays saw the Warriors generate their share of chances not long after the break, but their league-best man advantage was unable to break through.
Portland began to get things shortly after the second power play, gaining some zone time and getting a handful of great scoring chances on Warriors goaltender Jackson Unger, but the 18-year-old backstop was there for the first saves and his defence took care of things from there.
The Warriors had a couple of opportunities of their own late in the period -- an open shot from the slot off the stick of Yager and a Lakovic breakaway among two of the best -- but Jan Spunar was there for big saves of his own.
The back-and-forth affair showed in the shots through two, with Unger having 18 saves and Spunar 19.
The third period was much of the same early, but the Warriors would be the next to break through.
Denton Mateychuk took a feed into the high slot from Savoie, took a couple of strides and ripped a shot top shelf blocker side 2:52 into the period. The goal was Mateychuk’s 200th point of his career and makes him the third-highest scoring defenceman in Warriors history.
Portland got back within one with 8:04 gone in the third with the two teams playing four-on-four. Jack O’Brien scored on the rush with a shot from the right faceoff circle top shelf blocker side.
A couple minutes later the Warriors regained their two-goal lead. Savoie forced a neutral zone turnover and moved the puck up to Calvert for a two-on-one, taking the return feed and putting the shot through the five-hole.
Portland caught a break on their second goal when a Nate Danielson tip in front went off of Unger’s glove, popped into the air and dropped into the net. The goal came 1:14 after Savoie’s second marker.
Portland pulled Spunar with 2:25 to play, and seconds later, Firkus scored to once again make it a two-goal game, but sure enough, Portland got that one right back on a goal by Gabe Klassen 31 seconds later.
That made for a tense final couple minutes, but the Warriors would hang on through a couple of scoring chances and the Warriors had their one-goal win.
Unger capped his night with 27 saves, while Spunar turned aside 22.
The Warriors return to the ice on Friday night when they face another tough challenge against the U.S. Division second-place Silvertips, followed by the Seattle Thunderbirds on Saturday and Wenatchee Wild on Sunday to finish off their road swing.
