MOOSEJAWTODAY.COM -- The Moose Jaw Warriors have drawn first blood in the Western Hockey League Eastern Conference final.
Brayden Yager scored at 12:34 of the first overtime as the Warriors took a 4-3 victory in the opening game of the best-of-seven series in Saskatoon.
Moose Jaw has now stolen home ice advantage, with Game 2 in Saskatoon on Saturday night.
The Warriors had the first great chance of the game a minute in when Matthew Savoie and Atley Calvert went in on a short two-on-one, but Blades netminder Evan Gardner would make the save and then keep the puck out on the ensuing goalmouth scramble.
Saskatoon would get on the board first, with an innocent-looking shot by Blades defenceman Charlie Wright from the high slot finding its way through traffic in front and past Jackson Unger 3:05 into the game.
A high sticking penalty to Voytech Port during a goalmouth scramble with 7:33 gone sent the Blades on the first and only power play of the game, but Unger would make a handful of big saves to keep the game scoreless.
The Warriors had a great chance to tie the contest with four minutes left in the period when Brayden Schuurman had a wide open net off a Kalem Parker shot in close, but Gardner would get across with his pad to just keep the puck from going over the line.
Egor Sidorov gave the Blades a 2-0 lead only 1:59 into the second, taking advantage of space and time to move around the top of the zone before putting a long shot top shelf on Unger.
The Warriors needed a response after that marker, and they got it quickly.
Only 14 seconds after Sidorov’s goal, Rilen Kovacevic outdueled a Blades defender along the boards to get a pass out front to a wide-open Schuurman, and he’d cut across the net before tucking the puck under Gardner.
The Warriors then tied things up at the 8:04 mark, capping off a series of pressure in the Saskatoon zone largely thanks to the puck control of Denton Mateychuk.
Calvert did the honours, getting to the front of the net and redirecting a shot from the near boards by Savoie top shelf blocker side on Gardner.
Each team had a couple of chances in the latter half of the second period -- including a hit post by Jagger Firkus in the final minute of the frame -- but the two teams would go into the third period tied 2-2.
Kovacevic had a great chance to give the Warriors the lead on a near carbon-copy of his solo-effort goal against the Swift Current Broncos in Game 4 of the previous series, splitting the D and going in alone, only to have Gardner come up with a big glove save.
The teams ended up in a back-and-forth battle the rest of the period, but it would be the Warriors who took the lead late.
Savoie scored his eighth of the playoffs, taking a feed off the boards from Pavel McKenzie, evading a Blades defender into the slot and roofing a shot blocker side for the 3-2 edge with 4:52 to play in regulation.
The lead wouldn’t last, though, and it was an unbelievably bad break for the Warriors that led to the tying goal.
With Gardner pulled for the extra attacker, Sidorov got off a one-timer from the wing that hit and broke Martin Rysavy’s stick before going top shelf blocker side, tying the game with 1:27 remaining.
There things remained until Yager finished it all off.
Firkus found all sorts of room in the near corner and used that time to hit Yager with a pass in the high slot, and the Saskatoon product would make no mistake with a shot glove side to give the Warriors the overtime win.
Sidorov’s two goals give him a WHL-best 12 in the playoffs, while Mateychuk’s two assists sees him remain the WHL scoring leader with 14 helpers and 21 points.
As expected, both goaltenders were outstanding, with Unger stopping 28 shots -- including 16 in the first period and three in overtime -- while Gardner had 22 saves for the Blades.
The two teams are right back at it on Saturday night in Game 2, with puck drop at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre. Games 3 and 4 are back in Moose Jaw and Tuesday and Wednesday, with fewer than 200 tickets remaining for each game.
