That, and not playing the best team in the Western Hockey League.
Only 24 hours after falling 5-0 to the Edmonton Oil Kings, the Moose Jaw Warriors scored three third period goals to take a 3-0 win over the Red Deer Rebels in WHL action Saturday at the Westerner Park Centrium.
And if the game highlights on WHL.ca are any indication, Adam Evanoff was on his game and then some in the Warriors net.
The Tribe 19-year-old veteran turned aside 46 shots, including 18 in the third period alone, to pick up his first shutout of the season and second of his WHL career. Just as impressively, according to numbers compiled by CHL statistician Geoffrey Brandow the shutout tied the modern record for the most saves in a Warriors clean sheet set by Joey Perricone against Prince George way back in 2003.
Evanoff didn’t have an easy time of it, either – he needed a partial breakaway stop on Jayden Grubbe early in the third to preserve the shutout and then robbed Chris Douglas from the top of the crease with a glove save shortly after the Warriors had taken the lead.
The kicker? Evanoff had only lasted two periods the night before in Edmonton, giving up four goals before being replaced by Jackson Berry.
In Red Deer, Evanoff already had 28 saves in the bag when Ryder Korczak took advantage of a big rebound to score the first goal of the game 26 seconds into the third period.
Tate Popple then added an insurance marker 6:38 later, tipping a Carson Sass point shot past Rebels goaltender Ethan Sanders. Brayden Tracey drew an assist on both goals.
Popple then capped things off with an empty-net marker with seven seconds remaining, Korczak and Owen Hardy picking up helpers.
The Warriors finished with 24 shots on Anders and both teams were 0-for-2 on the power play.
Moose Jaw improved to 11-21-2-0, sitting three points ahead of last-place Swift Current and three points back of Regina. The Rebels are now 13-20-1-3, nine points back of Brandon for the final Eastern Conference wildcard playoff spot.
The Warriors close out their three-games-in-three-nights Alberta road swing in Calgary against the Hitmen on Sunday.
