It’s taken a little longer than anyone expected, but the Moose Jaw Warriors finally have a bit of a winning streak going.
The Warriors extended their run of success to a season-high four games on Sunday afternoon in Edmonton, taking a 5-1 victory over the Oil Kings in Western Hockey League action.
The victory sees Moose Jaw improve to 17-10-0-1 to sit in third place in the Eastern Conference, a point back of the Medicine Hat Tigers for second and four back of the Saskatoon Blades for first.
Martin Rysavy opened scoring just over five minutes into the proceedings, taking a pass from behind the net from Atley Calvert and putting home a shot from a hard angle.
Denton Mateychuk picked up the second assist on the goal, extending his point streak to 21 games and setting a modern-era franchise record in the process. Jagger Firkus had put together a 20-game streak last season, but with Mateychuk now having at least an assist in every game since returning from Columbus at the beginning of October, the record is now his.
Calvert also extended his point streak to eight games and now has points in 13 of his last 14.
The Warriors’ next goal was a bit of a feel-good moment, as with all sorts of family and friends in the stands at Roger’s Place, Ethan Hughes would score his first of the season. The Edmonton product picked up the puck in the left face-off circle and fired a low shot blocker side to make it 2-0 at 4:32 of the second period.
The Warrriors then extended their lead to three with 9:59 gone in the frame, with Pavel McKenzie jamming home a pass from Brayden Yager off the rush for his fifth goal of the season.
Roan Woodward got one back for Edmonton before the period was out, but that would be the last good news for the home team on the night.
Calvert finished off a handful of chances on the power play with a one-timer from Mateychuk with 4:33 gone in the third period, giving the Moose Jaw Minor Hockey product 16 goals on the season and moving into a tie with for 11th in the WHL in that category.
Yager then capped a three-point night with the game’s final goal, putting home a power play one-timer from Kalem Parker with 29 seconds remaining. The goal was Yager’s 17th of the season.
Mateychuk capped his night with three assists and now has six goals and 30 points in 20 games, moving into fourth in defenceman scoring in the WHL.
All that offence was more than enough for rookie goaltender Dmitri Fortin to pick up his third win of the season, stopping 26 shots in the process. Edmonton goaltender Hudson Perry turned aside 37 shots in only the second game of his WHL career.
The Warriors are back in action on Wednesday night when the Red Deer Rebels are in town. Game time is 7 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
