With nothing to play for and the Western Hockey League playoffs just over a week away, the Moose Jaw Warriors opted to dress a mishmash of a line-up on Thursday night against the Brandon Wheat Kings in Brandon.
In the end, the result showed on the scoreboard.
With team captain Denton Mateychuk and forward Matthew Savoie sitting out and back-up goaltender Dimitri Fortin making his third-straight appearance, the Warriors would surrender four straight goals -- including three in the third period -- to drop a 5-3 decision.
The win sees the Warriors fall to 43-21-0-4, with the team having long cemented their position in third place in the Eastern Conference thanks to the Central Division winner automatically getting second.
The game actually could act as a playoff preview of sorts, with Brandon moving two points ahead of idle Lethbridge and into sixth place in the Conference, with Moose Jaw facing which ever team finishes sixth.
As rough as things finished Thursday, the Warriors got off to a great start.
Brayden Yager forced a turnover along the far boards and quickly got a pass to Jagger Firkus in the slot, with the Seattle Kraken prospect’s one-timer giving the Warriors a 1-0 lead 3:22 into the proceedings.
Firkus then had his second of the game at 9:02, finishing off a great bit of power play puck work with a cross-ice one-timer from Yager.
Jayden Wiens got one back for Brandon with just over six minutes to play in the period, pouncing on a rebound off an Andrei Maliavin shot from the face-off circle and tucking it into the open corner.
It was then Yager’s turn to get on the board with 3:26 to play in the first, as he went in on a short two-on-one with Firkus before getting off a one-timer that beat Carson Bjarnason glove side.
Firkus left the period with 58 goals and 121 points on the campaign, once again moving him past Prince George’s Zac Funk and into the WHL scoring lead.
Fortin had to be sharp as the second period progressed, making a couple of big saves in close on Rylan Roersma and Quinn Mantei to keep it a two goal game.
Brandon caught a break on their second goal, as Rhett Ravendahl’s soft shot from the point redirected off Connor Schmidt and off Fortin’s arm before dropping into the goal with 9:58 to play in the frame.
The Wheat Kings kept up the pressure from there, and would wrap up the period with a 17-3 advantage on the shot clock.
All that pressure paid off 58 seconds into the third when Roersma carried the puck into the Brandon zone and tied the game up with a shot from the slot, getting both teams back to square at 3-3.
Other than a Warriors power play a few minutes later, Brandon continued to carry the play in the period and took their first lead with 8:45 gone in the final frame. Joby Baumiller found Luke Shipley coming in off the blueline, and he’d be left wide open before putting home a shot blocker side.
Brett Hyland made it a two-goal lead with a power play marker with 1:51 to play and that would wrap up scoring on the night
Fortin faced a total of 40 shots on the night, while the Warriors finished with 23 on Bjarnason.
The Warriors wrap up the regular season on Saturday night when they host the Regina Pats. Be sure to get to your seats early, as the Warriors will be holding their Yara Awards Night prior to the contest.
