And while the Pats had a few chances in the early going, it was the Warriors who built a substantial lead in the rematch from their 6-5 loss Friday and would go on to a 5-3 victory at Mosaic Place.
“Last game we didn’t start very well and this game we played a hard 60 minutes and that was the difference,” said Warriors forward Brayden Yager, who had a goal and an assist in the contest and was the first star. “We finished strong last game and kind of built on that, it was a lot better and now we get to go into Christmas with a win.”
Warriors goaltender Carl Tetachuk was sharp from the start, and he needed to be. Much like the previous night the Pats pressed right from the opening face-off and had a great scoring chance in the game’s opening seconds, but Tetachuk was able to make a stellar pad save on Logan Nihoff to keep things scoreless.
Both teams had several chances as the period progressed -- Eric Alarie had a shot on a partial breakaway go off the crossbar and straight down in front of the goal line midway through the frame -- but Thomas Tien picked up the game’s opening goal in slick fashion. The Warriors rookie finished off a hard-working shift by taking a pass from Cade Hayes from behind the net to the top of the crease and putting a shot past Pats starter Matthew Kieper at 7:16 of the frame.
Nathan Pilling then made it 2-0 at 2:00 of the second period, forcing a turnover at the blueline and finishing off an exchange with Atley Calvert by ripping a shot low into the left corner.
The goal was Tien’s third of the season and Pilling’s second, giving the Warriors a bit of depth scoring that they’ve lacked at times this season.
“If we can get all four line moving and scoring goals, it obviously makes us hard to play against,” Yager said. “They can’t match up certain lines if we get all four lines scoring, it’ll be an important part of the team and it’ll help us out a lot if we can keep doing that.”
The Warriors kept up the pressure as the period went on, and Robert Baco was the beneficiary this time around, finishing off a passing play with Alarie and Ryder Korczak to put Moose Jaw ahead 3-0 at 9:03.
Yager’s rapidly developing power-play one-timer struck for the Warriors’ fourth goal, as he took a feed from Korczak and hammered a shot home with 2:35 remaining in the second.
“I think when you get a good pass it’s pretty easy to hit, and the last couple of games I’ve been missing the net quite a bit, so it was nice to get one,” Yager said.
Regina got one back before the period was out, and it took some luck to beat Tetachuk, as the 20-year-old netminder made a brilliant pad save on a goalmouth scramble but had the rebound get poked home out of a slew of traffic by Nihoff to make it 4-1 a minute after Yager’s marker.
The Pats then used their high-scoring power play to get within two at 3:20 of the third, with Tanner Howe’s shot from the point finding its way through traffic and into the back of the net.
Moose Jaw was able to reply on their sixth power play of the game at 9:35, and this time it was Jagger Firkus getting things done with a one-timer from the top of the left face-off circle.
Korczak drew his third assist of the game on the play and now has 10 points in his last four games.
Regina would close out scoring with a minute remaining, as Parker Berghe tipped home a point shot from Tom Cadieux that just eluded Tetachuk on the glove side.
Tetachuk would cap the game with a 37-save performance, while Kieper stopped 27 shots.
The Warriors returned to .500 at 14-14-2-1 with the win and are now a point back of Brandon for fourth place in the Eastern Conference and tied with Saskatoon for third in the East Division. The Pats fell to 12-16-0-0.
Seeing the team get well above even-steven in the new year will be a major goal for the Warriors.
“We’re going to have to step it up a lot after the break, I think,” Yager said. “The rest will be good for the guys and hopefully we come back and play well right from the first game back.”
The Warriors are now off until Dec. 28 when they host the Edmonton Oil Kings. Game time is 7 p.m. at Mosaic Place.
