Things might have become a little more interesting than they would have liked on Saturday night, but the Moose Jaw Warriors continued their winning ways just the same.
The Warriors built a three-goal lead through two periods against the Seattle Thunderbirds and held on in the final frame for a 4-2 victory in Western Hockey League action.
The win was the fifth in a row for the Warriors and ran their win streak in the U.S. Division to five games. Moose Jaw improved to 39-19-0-2 with the win and moved five points clear of the Medicine Hat Tigers for second place in the Eastern Conference.
Neither team had a ton of sustained pressure through the first period, though the Warriors did generate a handful of chances on two power plays in the first 15 minutes but were unable to score.
Seattle kept going to the box, though, and the league’s best power play broke through on their third chance. Immediately after Atley Calvert won a battle in front of the net and sent the puck back to the point, Jagger Firkus got off a one-timer from Kalem Parker that found its way through traffic and into the net.
The goal came with 1:53 remaining in the period and ran Calvert’s point streak to 19 games, with 17 goals and 37 points in that span.
Calvert then made it a 2-0 game a little over a minute into the second period, with the reigning WHL Player of the Month taking a feed from behind the net from Lakovic and putting a backhand from the slot top shelf blocker side.
That marker was a milestone for the Moose Jaw Minor Hockey product as the 100th of his WHL career.
That goal signaled a hard shift in momentum in the game as the Warriors hemmed Seattle into their zone for long stretches of time and generated a slew of chances, only for Thunderbirds goaltender Spencer Michnik to hold the fort.
The pressure paid off with 2:06 remaining in the frame, as Firkus broke in down the wing and beat Michnik with a shot glove side.
Warriors goaltender Dmitri Fortin carried his shutout bid until the 9:43 mark of the third, and as has been the case with most goals against Moose Jaw lately, it came on a bad break.
Kaleb Hartmann put a pass from the corner off of Fortin and the bounce would go right to Nick Myatovic in the slot, with his shot making it a 3-1 game.
Seattle began to get more chances as the period progressed, and with 5:35 remaining Sawyer Mynio finished off a run of pressure in the Warriors zone to make it a one-goal game.
That made for some tense times as Seattle scrambled for the tying goal, especially in the last two minutes with Michnik pulled, but Brayden Yager would score an empty-netter with four seconds remaining to finish off scoring.
Fortin capped his night with 29 saves while Michnik stopped 34 shots.
The Warriors did not give up a power play in the game, and were 1-for-4 on the night on the man advantage themselves.
The Warriors wrap up their eight-games-in-14-days road trip and will have a chance to go for their 40th win on Sunday evening against the Wenatchee Wild. Game time is 6 p.m.
