It was far from perfection and became more than a little dicey at the end of the game, but the Moose Jaw Warriors still came away with their first home-ice win of the regular season on Friday night at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
The Warriors scored four straight goals in the second period and held off a late-game charge by the Prince Albert Raiders to take a 4-3 victory in Western Hockey League action, improving to 2-1-0-0 in the earliest stages of the 2022-23 campaign.
A major reason the team expected a more consistent performance came out of how things had turned out personnel-wise earlier in the week -- the Warriors had their full line-up for the first time this season, with all seven players who had been at NHL training camps back in their new black, red and white uniforms on Friday.
That included team captain Denton Mateychuk and Martin Rysavy, who arrived back in Moose Jaw earlier in the afternoon from Columbus Blue Jackets camp.
Mateychuk looked every part of a first-round NHL draft pick, too, controlling the play any time he was on the ice and finishing the evening with three assists.
“It was awesome, it’s great to be back in Moose Jaw and see all the guys again and the guys who are back from their camps, too,” Mateychuk said. “I thought we looked pretty good once we got going, we were a bit slow at the start and didn’t really push, but it’s only three games and we have a lot of time to get ready for the [rest of the season].”
The Warriors didn’t get off to the start they wanted, as the Raiders were able to hit the scoresheet first only 2:21 into the game. Terrell Goldsmith’s harmless-looking wrist shot from the point found its way past a screened Connor Ungar, and Prince Albert had a quick 1-0 lead.
That edge held through four Moose Jaw power plays through the rest of the first period -- including a double minor late in the frame -- but the Warriors would strike on their first chance in the second,
Eric Alarie scored his first of the season, finishing off a tic-tac-toe passing play with Brayden Yager and Ben Riche by banking a shot off Raiders goaltender Tikhon Chaika and into the net.
That marker at 8:39 kicked off a string of Warriors pressure, and Max Wanner -- who signed an entry-level contract with the Edmonton Oilers earlier in the day -- would be the beneficiary, and it was a slick one at that. Wanner broke in off the Raiders blueline to the right face-off circle and put a perfect shot upstairs glove side to give Moose Jaw their first lead of the game at 9:56.
“I just got the puck, and hey, I had a lane to the net and I shot it and it turned out to be a nice goal,” Wanner said with a huge grin. “The confidence is high and if you shoot the puck when the confidence is high, they’ll go in more.”
Lynden Lakovic then increased that lead to a pair with 1:22 to play in the second, picking up the puck behind the net after a shot by Atley Calvert, circling around the net and tucking in a wrap-around on Chaika.
Moose Jaw extended their lead to 4-1 3:22 in the third, and it was a familiar face who did the honours-- Jagger Firkus scored his first of the season after breaking down the right wing and taking a cross-ice feed from Mateychuk before putting a shot home.
Seeing his crew rally the way they did wasn’t much of a surprise to Mateychuk, especially once they got things rolling in the second period after Alarie’s goal.
“I was really happy with our bounceback in the second and third and how we were able to pick it up,” he said. “I think at any given time we can go on a bit of a run there and that’s what happened in the second period, but late in the third, that shows where we have to clean it up and make sure we’re not cheating for things and keeping it tight.”
The Warriors ran into penalty trouble as the period progressed and the Raiders were able to strike with a two-man advantage with 7:31 remaining when Landon Kosior’s shot from the point snuck through traffic and past Ungar.
The Raiders then made things interesting in the final 17 seconds as Kosior scored his second of the game on a similar play, a long-range shot through traffic, but that would close out scoring on the night,
Ungar finished the game with 18 saves while the Warriors fired 29 shots at Chaika.
Prince Albert fell to 0-3-1-0 with the loss.
The Warriors are right back in action on Saturday night as they travel to Brandon for their first meeting of the season with the Wheat Kings. Game time is 6 p.m. from Westoba Place.
Next home action is Wednesday night against the Saskatoon Blades, with puck drop at 7 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
