The Moose Jaw Warriors found themselves in a track meet on Friday night, but thanks to their special teams, their winning streak continues.
The Warriors picked up their fourth straight victory and improved to 3-0 on their swing through the U.S. Division with a 7-6 shootout win over the Everett Silvertips in Western Hockey League action.
Moose Jaw went 4-for-4 on the power play and also scored shorthanded, improving to 38-19-0-2 to maintain their one-point lead over the Medicine Hat Tigers in second place in the Eastern Conference.
The win also sees the Warriors officially qualify for the playoffs, with Moose Jaw needing a single point heading into the contest to get the hob done.
The first few minutes of the first period saw chances up and down the ice, with both teams getting off good scoring opportunities.
WHL Player of the Month Atley Calvert and Matthew Savioie had one of those on a two-on-one that was nicely broken up by Everett defenceman Parker Berge Berge would have his own chance moments later at the other end of the ice off the rush, only for Jackson Unger to make a steady glove save.
The Warriors would get on the board first, and it was the product of another solid bit of work on the penalty kill. Savoie forced a turnover at the blueline and went in two-on-one with Calvert before keeping and beating Tyler Palmer with a shot for the game’s opening goal at 5:46.
The Silvertips got that one back with 8:37 remaining in the first period when Dominik Rymon got off a shot on the rush that went off a Warriors defenceman and past Unger.
Only 29 seconds later, Lynden Lakovic tied things up. Calvert set up the play by going in on the rush and forcing Palmer into a scramble before sending the pass out front to Lakovic, who took his time before putting a shot home.
Unger was put to the test with 4:40 remaining, getting across to make a spectacular save on a pass from behind the net out front to Cade Zaplitny.
Less than a minute later, Everett would take advantage of their second power play to tie the game. Julius Meittinen finished off a slick passing play with a spinning shot after being left alone at the top of the crease.
A trend of Everett controlling the play continued in the second period, and that led to Meittinen scoring his second of the game, taking a backdoor pass from Rymon and putting home a one-timer 2:20 into the frame for the 3-2 lead.
The Silvertips ran into some penalty trouble minutes later, and a five-on-three advantage against the league’s best power play led to a predictable result. Denton Mateychuk carried the puck into the zone, sent the puck to Savoie, who put a pass into the slot for a Brayden Yager one-timer and a goal at 4:38.
The Warriors had more than a minute left on the power play after that goal, and Jagger Firkus capitalized, taking a pass in the left face-off circle and stickhandling in close before slipping a shot home five-hole 25 seconds later.
Brayden Schuurman then gave the Warriors a two-goal lead with just over seven minutes to play in the period. A neutral-zone turnover sent Schuurman in on a two-on-one, and he’d keep, toe-drag into the slot and beat Palmer with a shot glove side.
Everett caught a break on their next goal, when a centering pass by Kaden Hammel went off a defender in front perfectly top shelf blocker side with 4:55 to play in the period, and they then tied the game 1:21 later when Zaplitny scored on a goalmouth scramble to make it 5-5.
The Silvertips once again put the Warriors on a two-man advantage for a 1:21 with 21 seconds left in the second period, and the result was the same.
Only 25 seconds into the third, Yager had his second goal of the game, one-timing a home a pass from Fiirkus to the slot and 34 seconds after that marker, Yager set up Savoie for a one-timer in the slot and a 7-5 lead.
Yet another fortunate bounce in Everett’s favour led to their sixth goal, when a shot from the point by Hammel went off a Warriors defender right to Jesse Heslop in front, and he’d have all day to put a shot in at 5:34.
The Silvertips kept up the pressure over the next six minutes and were rewarded when Austin Roest once again tied the game with 8:31 to play.
There things remained through overtime -- where Everett outshot Moose Jaw 7-1 but couldn’t beat Unger -- and things ended up in a shootout.
There, Firkus would score the lone goal on a slick backhand and Unger stopped all three shooters he faced to give the Warriors the 8-7 win.
Unger faced a total of 56 shots on the night, while the Warriors had 35 on Palmer.
The Warriors are back in action on Saturday night when they play the seventh game of their eight-games-in-14-nights road swing in Seattle against the Thunderbirds.
