The Moose Jaw Warriors are gradually starting to find the consistency they’ve been looking for all season.
And while their Western Hockey League contest with the Medicine Hat Tigers on Saturday night wasn’t a perfect example, the fact the Warriors were able to rally late and find a win in overtime was a positive just the same.
Martin Rysavy scored the game-tying goal with 4:15 remaining in regulation and Jagger Firkus finished things off in the extra period as the Warriors battled to a 3-2 win in front of 2,838 fans at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
Moose Jaw improved to 30-15-0-3 and remain a point ahead of Saskatoon for third place in the Eastern Conference. The Warriors also have points in eight of their last 10 games, making them one of the hottest teams in the WHL heading into the month of February.
“I think throughout the season we’ve seen there have been quite a few games where we don’t give up, we score goals late in the third, and it shows there’s no quit in this group,” Firkus said. “It’s good to see, especially with a lot of depth guys coming through lately, too.”
That the game was so tight-checking wasn’t a surprise to Firkus, especially given how their contests with the Tigers have gone this season.
“I think every game against them this year has been tight going into the third, they play a hard game and they play physical,” Firkus said. “You have to give them credit, they did a really good job shutting a lot of guys down, but we were able to get the win and that’s all that matters.”
Medicine Hat got off to a solid start, outshooting the Warriors 7-1 in the first couple minutes and eventually drawing back-to-back penalties to create a two-man advantage for over a minute, but they wouldn’t be able to capitalize.
The Tigers had no such difficulties with just under six minutes to play. A bad Warriors line change sent the Tigers in two-on-one, with Oasiz Weisblatt taking the cross-ice feed from Andrew Basha and finishing off the break with 5:51 remaining in the frame.
The Warriors had a handful of chances throughout the period -- including a couple of two-on-one breaks on the aforementioned power plays -- but would be unable to capitalize.
Moose Jaw had a chance to tie the game during Medicine Hat’s third power play of the game 6:19 into the second when Firkus went in on a clean breakaway from his own blueline, but Tigers goaltender Beckett Langkow would come up with the save.
The Warriors received their first power play of the game with 6:39 to play in the period, and they’d finally break through. Atley Calvert found a sliver of space in the slot, and Firkus would find the Moose Jaw Minor Hockey product from behind the net for the quick shot and a 1-1 game.
There things stood until the 6:29 mark of the third, when Medicine Hat got a huge break on the go-ahead goal. Owen MacNeil got a shot off from the slot that Firkus mostly blocked, only to have the puck pop up, drift over Connor Ungar and into the Warriors’ net.
It took a while for the Warriors to get that one back, but they'd finally get the job done with 4:17 to play in regulation. Martin Rysavy finished off a tic-tac-toe passing play with Ryder Korczak and Robert Baco with a nifty little backhand top shelf on Langkow, tying the game at two.
The contest eventually found its way to overtime, and after a tripping penalty to Weisblatt seconds in put the Warriors on the power play, Firkus would finish things off. A Korczak face-off win got the puck to the Seattle Kraken prospect, and he’d work his way into the slot before wiring a shot top shelf glove side 40 seconds in.
Ungar capped his night with 34 saves and was once again impressive in the Warriors goal, while Langkow had 29 stops at the other end of the ice.
The Warriors are back in action during a three-game Alberta swing beginning Wednesday when they travel to Lethbridge.
“Obviously we know it’s coming down the end of the season here, it’s almost playoff time, so we have to focus in and understand that these games against Medicine Hat and Brandon and going into Lethbridge next week, they’re games we need to win,” Firkus said. “We can’t be giving up points to those teams anymore. It’s huge for the group to get this win tonight and we want to keep going, for sure.”
