MOOSE JAW -- The Moose Jaw Warriors turned in another impressive effort against the Brandon Wheat Kings on Saturday night, but once again came up short on the scoreboard.
Luke Shipley scored the game-tying goal late in the third period and Nolan Flamand ended things 44 seconds into overtime as the Wheat Kings took a 5-4 victory in Western Hockey League action at the Temple Gardens Centre.
Moose Jaw improved to 14-43-6-2 with the single point and are now within two points of the Regina Pats for 10th in the Eastern Conference. Brandon improved to 36-22-4-3 and remain in first place in the East Division and second in the Conference.
The Warriors got off to a rough start in the first period and, unlike the previous night in Brandon, didn’t have an immediate response.
Roger McQueen got Brandon on the board only 57 seconds into the contest and Marcus Nguyen extended the lead to 2-0 on the Wheat Kings’ first power play of the game at the 3:53 mark.
Brandon continued to control things after the quick lead and would hold the Warriors to a single shot in the first 12 minutes of the game while getting off 10 themselves.
Moose Jaw began to get their legs under them not long after that point, and they’d take advantage of their first power play of the game.
Pavel McKenzie started the play with a great forecheck and pass from behind the net to Ethan Semeniuk at the side of the net, and his quick feed across the goal would find Lynden Lakovic for the tap in with 5:42 to play in the period.
The goal was Lakovic’s 24th of the season and 100th of his WHL career.
Moose Jaw’s Casey Brown then finished off an odd-man rush by taking advantage of a nifty crossing play in front of the Brandon net and putting a backhand through Carson Bjarnason’s five hole, tying the game 2-2 with 1:54 to play in the first.
The Wheat Kings took advantage of their second power play to regain the lead only a minute later. Matteo Michel got off a shot from the point that would go off a skate in front and find the back of the net only four seconds into the man advantage.
Moose Jaw carried the play much of the second period and would be rewarded with the tying goal with six minutes to play in the frame.
McKenzie did the honours, finishing off a slick give-and-go with Riley Thorpe after what originally looked like a broken play in Brandon’s zone.
Thorpe then hit the back of the net himself, feeding Lakovic for a one-timer at the side of the net and then pouncing on the rebound for the go-ahead goal with 2:42 remaining in the second.
The third was back-and-forth as neither team had extended control, but Brandon would find the tying goal with 5:14 to play in regulation. Shipley broke in from the blue line and hammered home a loose puck in the slot after a goalmouth scramble to make it a 4-4 game.
The remainder of regulation solved nothing, setting up Flamand to score the game-winner after taking a feed to the right face-off circle from Nguyen.
Matthew Hutchison finished with 28 saves for the Warriors while Bjarnason had 30 stops for Brandon.
The Warriors are back in action Tuesday night when they travel to Prince Albert. Game time is 7 p.m.
