It would be hard to blame fans at the Moose Jaw Events Centre on Saturday if they thought the Moose Jaw Warriors were going to be in for a long night.
After giving up three goals in the third period to the Saskatoon Blades 24 hours earlier, the Warriors found themselves trailing 3-0 after the first and looking like a listless, beaten team that couldn’t generate any kind of pressure.
Forty minutes of game time later, it was as different a story as could be.
The Warriors scored six straight goals, including four in the second period, as they went on to a 6-3 victory in front of one of the largest crowds of the season at 4,274.
“It was a good game and it obviously shows we have no quit in our team and it was great to bounce back from last night’s game,” said Warriors forward Jagger Firkus, who had a hat trick and four points on the night to hit 300 for his career. “Playoffs are coming up quick and to beat a team like Saskatoon is important to us. We’re 1-1 on the weekend, so we still have some unfinished business and hopefully we can meet them in the playoffs and have a really good series.”
The win sees Moose Jaw improve to 42-20-0-4 as they play out the remainder of the regular season. The Warriors will finish in third place in the Eastern Conference, while the Blades fell to 47-13-0-2 and will win the East Division and Eastern Conference titles while still shooting for the Scotty Munro Trophy as the best regular season team.
To say the first period was different from the rest of the game is quite an understatement.
Saskatoon opened scoring 4:38 into the game when Fraser Minton went to the top of the crease amidst three Warriors defenders and put a pass from the corner from Alexander Suzdalev through Jackson Unger’s five-hole for the early lead.
The Blades then made it 2-0 at the 10:37 mark when Easton Armstrong set up at the top of the crease and tipped home a power play point shot by Brandon Lisowsky.
A brutal turnover in the Warriors zone led to Saskatoon’s third goal, this time when Lisowsky stripped the puck from a Moose Jaw defender and sent a pass to the slot for a wide-open Armstrong, who had all day to put a shot low blocker side.
That was the end of the night for Unger, who allowed three goals on 12 shots in a span of 14:18.
“There are a lot of times this season where we haven’t had a great start and got away with it, but against a team like Saskatoon, you don’t get away with 10 minutes of not playing your greatest hockey,” Firkus said of the abysmal opening 20 minutes. “You saw that tonight in the first period, you give them a couple looks and a couple momentum swings and they put the puck in the back of the net. We learned from that going into the second and third and made good changes.”
The Warriors finally got some momentum on their side on their second power play of the game early in the second, and it paid off.
Matthew Savoie found a wide-open Brayden Yager at the right side of the net and he’d have plenty of time and space to cut across and put a backhand past Austin Elliot to make it 3-1 with 3:21 gone.
Firkus then got the Warriors back within one with 9:04 to play in the period, and it was a beauty. The Seattle Kraken prospect was sent in on a breakaway by Lucas Brenton and got off a wicked backhand from the slot that went top-shelf blocker side as he was hauled down.
Warriors goaltender Dmitri Fortin went to work from there, as the rookie netminder made a handful of big saves to keep it a one-goal game as his teammates began to press.
And thanks to that extra effort, Moose Jaw would finish off the comeback.
Savoie broke down his wing on a two-on-one and got off a hard-angle shot that snuck past Elliott to tie the game with 1:24 to play in the period.
Only 27 seconds later, the Warriors had their first lead of the game.
Brayden Schuurman went in on the rush and got off a perfect backhand from the bottom of the right faceoff circle that beat Elliott upstairs, and the Warriors left the second period with a 4-3 lead.
“We’re not worried about scoring goals, we’re not worried about offence, we’re worried about getting to the front of the net and winning the battles to make sure we have the puck so we can make plays,” Firkus said. “We did a lot better job of that in the last two periods and it showed.”
Things kept rolling in the third, and another power play led to another Warrior goal.
Firkus scored his 53rd of the season, taking a pass to his wing and putting an absolutely perfect shot top shelf glove side at 8:20.
There things remained until 1:43 remained in the contest when Firkus scored on a shot at the empty net from the Warriors zone to finish off his hat trick and record the 300th point of his career.
“It’s cool to think I’ve hit that milestone,” the 19-year-old said. “It wasn’t really a goal to do that in junior, but now that I’ve hit that mark, it means the world to show that the work I’ve put in over the summers and over the years has helped me grow as a player and a person.”
Fortin stopped all 24 shots he faced in relief of Unger, while the Warriors capped their night with 27 shots on Elliott.
The Warriors are back in action on Sunday afternoon when they travel to Regina to take on the Pats. Game time is 4 p.m. at Brandt Centre.
