Jagger Firkus scored the lone goal of the game in the third period for the Warriors, who found themselves in a scoreless draw through 20 minutes and trailing 2-0 through two.
Evan Patrician had a pair of goals for the Blades, Tristen Robins added their other marker.
The contest was close-checking throughout and saw a far different result compared to the Warriors previous outing, a 5-1 win over the Swift Current Broncos on Saturday night where they scored four times on the power play.
Against the Blades — whose shot-blocking was on par all night — the Warriors were 0-for-7 with the man advantage.
“Credit to Saskatoon, they kill a little bit different, they sit inside and dare you to shoot pucks and if you’re going to force things or create bobbled pucks or turnovers, they’ll jump on them in a hurry,” said Warriors head coach Mark O’Leary. “I think they did that tonight and maybe that’s the veteran presence they have, the maturity to wait for those moments. They did a real good job, we’ll go back to the drawing board, and it just wasn’t our night tonight on the power play.
The loss saw the Warriors fall to 4-2 on the season and hold down second place in the East Division, which is playing all its games in the Brandt Centre in Regina. While not perfect, the start is certainly a leap in the right direction for what is still one of the youngest teams in the CHL.
“We talked after the game, and I think 4-2, if we’d have said that at the start of the year we’d have been happy for sure,” O’Leary said. “By no means are we satisfied or complacent with that, we still have a lot more growth to be had here and I’m real proud of the group in terms of how they’ve come into the hub with their preparation and energy levels and willingness to compete. As we get going here we’ll have better starts to games and put ourselves in a position to win more than we lose.”
Warriors forward Ryder Korczak felt much the same way, with the knowledge that there’s plenty more in the tank.
“We got off to a good start here, the wins aren’t bad but I don’t think we’re satisfied,” Korczak said. “We have to work on stuff and our starts here in the first period, but we’re looking forward to it.”
Robins opened scoring with 3:08 remaining in the second, forcing a turnover at the blueline on the penalty kill, going in on the long shorthanded breakaway and slipping a shot past Brett Mirwald.
Saskatoon extended the lead to 2-0 just over a minute later as Patrician tipped a point shot home after an offensive-zone turnover.
Firkus would get one back for the Warriors early in the third, scoring his first of the season with 3:46 gone after taking a cross-crease feed from Cory King and tapping a shot past Blades goaltender Nolan Maier.
Patrician restored the two-goal lead midway through the period, with his quick shot from the top of the zone deflecting in front of Mirwald and finding the net.
The Warriors would have 21 shots on Maier, Saskatoon fired 28 at Mirwald.
Moose Jaw is back in action on Wednesday afternoon when they take on the Brandon Wheat Kings, with game time at 4 p.m.
Overtime…. The contest served as a milestone for two members of the team: captain Daemon Hunt played his 100th career WHL game and Warriors broadcaster and director of hockey administration James Gallo called his 1,000th Western Hockey League game.
