The Moose Jaw Warriors seem to have gotten the hang of this revenge thing.
A week after being shut out by the Lethbridge Hurricanes on the road, the Warriors scored three goals in just over seven minutes to start the third period and would go on to a 4-3 victory in Western Hockey League action at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
It was the second time this season Moose Jaw would knock off an opponent who had defeated them earlier in the season, as they took a win over the Brandon Wheat Kings earlier in the campaign after losing to the Wheaties in their home opener.
Moose Jaw improved to 6-3-0-0 with the victory and took over sole possession of first place in the Eastern Conference, a single point up on the Hurricanes.The Warriors are also two points back of the Prince George Cougars for first place overall in the WHL.
Martin Rysavy led the way on the scoresheet, scoring once and picking up a pair of assists for his best showing since returning to the Warriors from Columbus Blue Jackets camp
“It was a tough game, and last time when we lost we didn’t create a lot, so we had this game to bounce back,” said Rysavy, who was playing his fourth game since returning to the Warriors and now has two goals and four points on the season. “We knew we could beat this team and we just had to prove it on the ice. We did a good job on the defensive side, creating a lot of o-zone time and getting a lot of chances, and then we dominated in the third period so I thought we deserved the win.
“Now we just have to keep it that way and we should be able to win tomorrow, too.”
Lethbridge opened scoring 8:33 into the contest, taking advantage of their first power play in the process. Miguel Marques got a perfect shot off from the point that went top corner glove side on a completely screened Jackson Unger.
Rysavy would tie things up just over four minutes later, taking a feed out of the corner from Brayden Yager and putting a low shot into the glove-side corner on Harrison Meneghin.
There things remained until the 59-second mark of the third period when the Warriors took their first lead. Jagger Firkus did the honours, pouncing on a loose puck in the high shot and roofing a shot top corner blocker side to make it a 2-1 contest.
Some straight-up impressive puck movement led to the Warriors’ third goal, as Denton Mateychuk and Rysavy set up a wide-open Yager in the left face-off circle, and his one-timer would find nothing but net 5:01 into the third.
Five minutes later, it was 4-1, thanks to a Lethbridge turnover in the Moose Jaw zone that led to a three-on-one break for the Warriors. Firkus hit Ethan Semeniuk with a pass for the easy tap-in, giving Semeniuk his first goal of the season and first as a Warrior.
Trae Wilkie and Noah Chadwick scored for Lethbridge in the final seven minutes -- with the latter goal coming on a 6-on-3 after a late Warriors penalty -- but that would be as close as the Hurricanes would get.
Seeing his crew come through in the final frame was naturally a positive for Rysavy, even if it wasn’t completely ideal.
“We’d like to be able to win the game in the first period, but playing well the whole game and dominating the third period is okay if you get the win,” Rysavy said. “It was was a great job from everyone, from the coaches putting the line-up together so everyone had the energy and spark to be on the ice and as players, being ready for every shift… If we play the whole 60 minutes I think we’re going to win a lot of hockey games.”
Unger faced his lowest shot total of the season and ended up making 27 saves to earn the win, while the Warriors fired 31 shots on Meneghin.
Moose Jaw is back in action Saturday night and they’ll once again be looking for revenge, as they take on a Prince Albert Raiders crew that handed them a 4-0 loss in the season opener. Game time is 7 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
