The Moose Jaw Warriors looked to be rounding into playoff form when they took the ice against the Brandon Wheat Kings in Brandon on Wednesday night.
And while the Wheat Kings aren’t the Saskatoon Blades, coming away with a 6-2 win on the road against a team battling for their Western Hockey League playoff lives was most certainly a positive result.
Yegor Buyalski, Brayden Tracey and Tristin Langan all scored first period goals as the Warriors built a 3-0 lead in the first period on their way to the victory.
Stelio Mattheos got one back for Brandon before the opening frame was over, and Caiden Daly scored for the Wheat Kings early in the third period, but that would be as close as they’d get.
Hockey Brandon product Daemon Hunt added an insurance marker three minutes after Daly’s goal before Dalton Hamaliuk and Cameron Sterling – with his first WHL goal – added empty net markers as the Wheat Kings desperately tried to tie the game and make up ground in the playoff race.
Adam Evanoff made 29 saves for the win, Jiri Patera turned aside 25 for Brandon.
The Warriors improved to 38-20-6-2 on the season and will finish third in the East Division; Brandon fell to 30-28-4-4 and now sit four points back of Red Deer for the final Wild Card berth.
The Warriors close out the regular season with a home-and-home set against the Swift Current Broncos this weekend, with the return game in Moose Jaw on Saturday (7p.m., Mosaic Place).
