To say the least, the Moose Jaw Warriors are a land of contrasts this Western Hockey League season.
One night, they defeat the top ranked team in the entirety of Canada. Next time out, they lose to the team with the worst record in the WHL.
The Warriors had a golden chance to gain ground on the Saskatoon Blades and pull away from the Calgary Hitmen on Tuesday night in Edmonton against the Eastern Conference last-place Oil Kings, but couldn’t generate solid pressure until late in the game and dropped a 3-2 decision.
Moose Jaw fell to 24-14-0-1 and remain six points back of Saskatoon and three up on Calgary. Edmonton won their second straight game after a 14-game losing streak and are now 5-33-1-0.
The Warriors didn’t take long to get things going with an early penalty to Edmonton playing a role in the proceedings. Harper Lolacher would be the beneficiary, taking a feed from the right corner from Max Wanner to the top of the crease and tipping a shot between Edmonton goaltender Logan Cunningham’s pads only 1:02 into the contest.
Edmonton got that goal back shorthanded with seven minutes remaining in the first. Noah Boyko knocked Jagger Firkus off the puck at the Warriors blueline and went in on a two-on-none with Rhett Melnyk before finishing off the break.
The Warriors struggled to generate any pressure in the early part of the second period and ended up taking back-to-back penalties, leading to Edmonton’s go-ahead goal. Boyko scored his second of the game, finishing off a backdoor pass from Luca Hauf, and the Oil Kings had a 2-1 lead.
Moose Jaw started to generate some offence soon after, and were rewarded with just under nine minutes left in the period. Brayden Yager got a shot off on the rush and the rebound would eventually find Robert Baco, who would pick up the puck in front and put a shot past a downed Cunningham.
The teams went into the break tied 2-2, but the draw didn’t last long. Landon Hanson restored Edmonton’s lead with his first WHL goal, finishing off a two-on-one rush with Luke Robson.
The Warriors had a ton of zone time as the period progressed and spent the majority of the rest of the period in Edmonton’s end of the rink, but couldn’t consistently generate scoring opportunities. As a result, the Oil Kings were able to hang on and pick up the one-goal win.
Jackson Unger had 23 saves in the Warriors net while Cunningham stopped 31 for Edmonton.
The Warriors are back in action on Wednesday night when they travel to Red Deer. Their busy week continues Friday when Portland is at the Moose Jaw Events Centre and Saturday when they travel to Brandon.
