The Moose Jaw Warriors looked like a team on a mission on Tuesday night.
Despite enduring a slow start against the Winnipeg Ice in Game 3 of their Western Hockey League Eastern Conference Final at the Moose Jaw Events Centre, the Warriors rallied with a pair of second-period goals and had an answer for everything Winnipeg threw at them in the third, going on to an 8-4 victory.
The win gives the Warriors a two-games-to-one lead in the best-of-seven series, with the always crucial Game 4 set for Wednesday night.
Winnipeg carried the play in the Warriors zone most of the first five minutes, and they were able to break through with a pair of quick goals starting at the seven-minute mark.
Zack Ostapchuk was the beneficiary of some good work along the boards by Zach Benson, eventually taking a set up from Conor Geekie and using plenty of space and time to put home the game’s opening goal at 7:07.
Eleven seconds later, Briley Wood was in the right place to put home a Valdislav Shilo rebound, and Winnipeg had the early 2-0 lead.
A Warriors power play a minute after that goal saw the home team get one back, with Ryder Korczak putting home a rebound off a Brayden Yager shot in close at 8:45.
Just under two minutes later, another Moose Jaw power play saw things all tied up. Jagger Firkus got off a howitzer of a one-timer from the left face-off circle off a feed from Korczak, ringing the shot off the crossbar top corner and in.
An impressive shift led by some solid forechecking by Atley Calvert helped further turn momentum in the Warriors favour, and a neutral zone turnover would lead to Lynden Lakovic finding space in the Ice zone. The 16-year-old forward would use a screen to put a shot home low glove side, and the Warriors had a 3-2 edge with 5:08 to play in the opening frame.
The lead wouldn’t last the period, though, as a scramble in the Warriors zone led to a redirected puck finding Shilo at the side of the net for an open shot into the Moose Jaw goal at 17:06.
Moose Jaw regained the lead midway through the second, and it was once again the product of hard work in the Winnipeg zone. Calvert forced a turnover in behind the net and got the puck to Korczak at the side of the net, with his feed out front setting up Eric Alarie to flip the puck over Mason Beaupit from the top of the crease.
The goal came in Alarie’s first game back in the line-up after missing the previous three games with an upper-body injury.
Only 54 seconds later, it was a 5-3 Warrior lead. A shot from the point by Denton Mateychuk dropped in behind Beaupit, and Lakovic was in the right spot to poke it over the blueline with 8:14 to play in the second.
Winnipeg looked to get back into things with an early third-period power play, but shortly after the man advantage ended, the Warriors would make it 6-3. A three-on-one break led to Cosmo Wilson poking home the rebound off a Tate Schofer shot 4:14 into the final frame.
Knowing of Winnipeg’s firepower, the Warriors kept coming, and Martin Rysavy would extend the lead to four goals by finishing off a two-on-one with Firkus with 9:46 to play.
Nine seconds later, it was back to a three-goal edge, as Josh Medernach jumped on a turnover by Warriors goaltender Connor Ungar and put a shot into the open net.
The Warriors wouldn’t let up, though, and Firkus took advantage of a bad turnover by Winnipeg’s Carson Lambos in front of the net before putting a shot home five-hole to make it an 8-4 Warriors lead with 3:59 to play.
That would mark the end of the offence on the night, and the Warriors would have their win.
Ungar capped his evening with 25 saves while Daniel Hauser had five stops in 14:52 of work for Winnipeg before Beaupit made 12 stops the rest of the way.
Brayden Yager -- who earlier in the day was revealed as the 11th-ranked North American skater for the 2023 NHL Entry Draft -- had a stellar night playing set-up man, finishing with four assists and moving up to fifth in playoff scoring with five goals and 14 points in seven games. Firkus on a similar run and is third in scoring with seven goals and 15 points in the same span.
The two teams are right back in action on Wednesday night for Game 3, with puck drop at 7 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
