Eric Pearce scored the game-winning goal with 1:53 gone in the third as the Raiders would take a 5-2 victory in the East Division Hub at the Brandt Centre in Regina.
The result might not have been what the Warriors wanted, but the intangibles were much improved: the squad got off to a far, far better start than their previous outing -- not giving up four goals in the first seven minutes will do that -- and they were rewarded for their efforts with the opening marker of the game.
Eric Alarie did the honours on the power play, getting a piece of a Brayden Yager point shot and tipping it pass Raiders goaltender Carter Serhyenko for the 1-0 lead 6:11 into the contest.
“It was all about the response today, that was the message to the group before the game,” said Warriors head coach Mark O’Leary. “The score is going to be what it is at the end of the night, but after a tough couple losses you want to have the right response and I thought the guys did that tonight. We found our game quickly, and even with the score where it was, we still felt confident on the bench that we were going to be there because of how we were playing.
“The response was good today and it was good to get all four lines into the game and six D contributing to that style of play.”
Prince Albert was able to respond quickly as Ozzy Wiesblatt found the loose puck in between the circles during a scramble and put a shot off a stick in front with 8:27 gone.
The Warriors had a chance to take the lead midway through the period with their second power play of the game, but Justin Nachbauer would score shorthanded instead, with his marker coming at 12:46.
Moose Jaw was able to control play much of the second period and finally broke through for their second goal with 11 minutes gone. Atley Calvert hit Cade Hayes with a cross-ice pass from the boards and Hayes would make no mistake with his shot from the top of the faceoff circle, beating Serhyenko low glove side.
That set the stage for Pearce’s game winner, as he went in one-on-two, picked up his own rebound and slipped a shot under Mirwald for the 3-2 edge.
The Warriors ended up down 5-on-3 for almost a minute and a half late in the period, when with Nolan Jones in the box for tripping, Daemon Hunt took a five-minute major for checking to the head on Reece Vitelli with 6:40 to play.
Moose Jaw was able to kill off the two penalties and give themselves a chance for the comeback late, but couldn’t stop Weisblatt and Vitelli from scoring empty-net goals with 1:05 and 11 seconds left to close out the contest’s offence.
“Our veterans did their job in terms of killing the penalty and gave us the chance at the end,” O’Leary said. “Guys like Logan Doust and Tate Popple, they did a heck of a job today in a tough situation. We know what we have in those guys and it’s nice to have them in moments like that, but the common denominator is the resiliency of the whole group.”
The loss was the third straight for the Warriors and saw their record fall to 4-4-0-0 on the campaign. While their position in the standings might not have improved, O’Leary was still happy with what he saw from the club overall, even compared to their earlier wins.
“I think we certainly had the looks tonight and I think you could argue we had more looks tonight than we did in some of the other ones,” he said. “Especially in the second period, that might have been one of our best periods of the season… I thought the process was there, we were playing the way we want to play, but the difference was that the puck didn’t go in the net. I still liked our game and the third period was what it was, it certainly wasn’t a 5-2 game and we were right there in the end. You‘re going to have these games where there are no moral victories, but if you play like that more often than not you’re going to come out with the win.”
The Warriors will put that sentiment to the test in their next contest on Sunday night, as they take on the Winnipeg Ice (5-3-0-0). Puck drop is 8 p.m.
