That’s been the case for a few months now, but it takes on even greater importance as the final few chances for in-game development present themselves to the young squad.
In the end, it all means developing good habits and playing the game the right way – and, once again, for stretches against the Winnipeg Ice on Friday night at Mosaic Place, that’s what the Warriors were able to do.
But when they didn’t, it was Winnipeg’s game. And in the end, that led to a 4-1 defeat at the hands of the visitors.
“I thought the problems started once we got into the offensive zone and just got a little too cute,” said Warriors head coach Mark O’Leary. “We were too close before we were making a play to the net, then in the second period we were playing off the shot, putting pucks to the net and getting rebounds and playing from there. Then in the third it was one too many passes and resulted in no shots.
“That was a winnable game tonight, I felt we kind of tip-toed into it a bit and it was almost like we were waiting for something bad to happen.”
Michael Milne scored the lone goal of the first period for Winnipeg as the Warriors generated their own share of scoring chances in the process.
That effort would lead to Kyle Crosbie scoring his fifth of the season midway through the second, taking a lead pass from Garrett Wright and beating his man down the wing before putting a shot five-hole past Winnipeg’s Liam Hughes.
The tie wouldn’t last, though, as Isaac Johnson and Owen Pederson would score for Winnipeg before the period was out and give the Ice a 3-1 lead heading into the third.
Pederson tacked on an insurance marker with 3:24 to play to cap scoring.
Warriors prospect Jagger Firkus – who joined the team for the remainder of the season early last week – was named the game’s third star after another solid performance for the 15-year-old forward. The remainder of the campaign will offer a chance to continue to get his feet wet in the older and faster league.
“I’m getting way more comfortable every game, getting used to the speed and size change and everything,” Firkus said. “I just want to get comfortable with the coaching staff and all my teammates here. It’ll make it a lot easier moving here and that’s probably my main goal, just making friendships… the extra 12-13 games will help me with the chemistry and it’ll be a great experience.”
Boston Bilous finished with 25 saves for the Warriors, Hughes had 15 stops for Winnipeg.
The two teams are right back at it tonight at Wayne Fleming Arena in Winnipeg, with coach O’Leary looking for his team to take charge from the opening face-off.
“The message is ‘go into the game and make something good happen’,” he said. “Instead of starting on our heels, start on our toes and go win on. I think we’re feeling confident that we can beat this team, it’s just diving head first into things from the start.”
The Warriors fell to 14-42-4-0 with the loss, their third straight. Winnipeg improved to 35-24-1-0 to sit in third place in the East Division.
