Maybe it’s balancing out their 52-win season from a couple years ago, or making up for all those 40 win campaigns.
But whatever the reason, they appear to have it in for the Moose Jaw Warriors right about now.
Sasha Mutala scored with 0.5 seconds to play in the game to give the Tri-City Americans a 5-4 victory in Western Hockey League action Friday night.
The contest was the second of the Warriors’ U.S. Division road swing and marked the second straight game – after a 2-1 overtime loss in Spokane – where the local squad had a legitimate chance to win.
Instead, the Tribe fell to 12-35-4-0 on the season, remain winless in their last nine and four points ahead of last place Swift Current.
The Warriors didn’t get off to the best of starts in the contest as Mutala scored twice and Blake Stevenson added a single marker to give the Americans a 3-0 edge after the first.
The second period was the exact opposite offence-wise.
Logan Doust got the Warriors on the board 1:31 into the period, followed by Tate Popple with 6:04 to play in the second and captain Owen Hardy – playing his first game in almost a month after recovering from an upper body injury – with 11 seconds left in the frame.
The Warriors looked to steal a huge win when Martin Lang scored 5:21 into the third, but Edge Lambert would tie the game with 5:47 to play, setting up Mutala’s hat-trick heroics.
Hardy and Lang also had an assist each, Ryder Korczak picked up a pair of helpers.
Boston Bilous got the start in goal for Moose Jaw and surrendered the first three goals on seven shots before giving way to Brock Gould in the second period, with Gould stopping 20 shots the rest of the way. Mason Dunsford made 22 stops for Tri-City.
The Warriors will have Saturday night off before taking on the Portland Winterhawks on Sunday, Seattle on Tuesday, Everett on Wednesday and stopping off in Lethbridge on the way home on Friday. Next home action is Feb. 28 when they host Swift Current.
