They might have had to scratch and claw right to the final whistle, but the Moose Jaw Warriors are back on the winning track.
The Warriors scored twice in the third period and held off a furious Raiders rally in the final minutes to take a 3-2 victory over Prince Albert on the road in Western Hockey League action Friday night.
The win saw Moose Jaw improve their record to 9-5-0-0, good enough for fourth place in the Eastern Conference, four points back of the Saskatoon Blades and two points up on the Calgary Hitmen.
The Raiders took advantage of their first power play of the game, and continued their hot play with the man advantage as Landon Kosior scored with 14:35 gone in first. Kosior took a feed into the slot and fired a shot past a screened Connor Ungar to give Prince Albert a 1-0 lead.
The Warriors tied things up with 2:05 remaining in the period, courtesy of Robert Baco’s second goal of the season. Baco took a feed from the left boards out to the top of the zone from Denton Mateychuk and got a shot off a shot that found its way through an Atley Calvert screen and past Raiders’ goaltender Max Hildebrand.
Nolan Allan restored the Prince Albert lead on a strange one, as he took a shot from the point that eluded everyone until it found the back of the Warriors net. The marker came with 7:31 remaining in the second period.
Prince Albert looked to tie things up when Jagger Firkus was forced to hack Harrison Lodewyk on a shorthanded partial breakaway with 10:20 gone, but Ungar was able to make the save.
The Raiders power play struck once again with 7:31 remaining in the frame, as Allan scored their eighth power play goal in their last four games to give the Raiders a 2-1 edge through two periods.
Warriors overager Riley Ginnell picked up his first goal as a Warrior with 4:19 gone in the third period. It was a doozy, as Ginnell picked the puck out of a scrum on the right boards and broke in all alone on Hildebrand, who was able to make the first save but not the second as Ginnell buried his own rebound while driving across the crease.
The Raiders power play had a chance to retake the lead just over five minutes into the third, but it would be the Warriors who would strike.
Firkus finished off a two-on-one on a Raiders blueline turnover by beating Hildebrand with a shot top corner glove side.
Prince Albert had a golden opportunity to tie the game with just over seven minutes to play, but Ungar made an outstanding save on a Raiders two-on-one to preserve the lead. That would just be the start of Ungar’s heroics as the game wound down. as he made a handful of outstanding stops on a Raiders power play late in the game and followed up with even more when P.A. pulled their netminder in the final minute.
Ungar would finish with 23 saves on the night, while the Warriors put 24 shots on Hildebrand.
Now, it’s time for the game of the season so far.
The Moose Jaw Warriors will look to be the team that ends Red Deer’s 14-game winning streak to start the season when they host the Rebels at the Moose Jaw Events Centre on Saturday night.
Puck drop is 7 p.m.
