The Moose Jaw Warriors didn’t get off to the best of starts against the Lethbridge Hurricanes in Western Hockey League action on Wednesday night. And when they did get things going in the third period, it was a Moose Jaw kid who kept them off the scoresheet.
Hurricanes goaltender and Moose Jaw Minor Hockey product Bryan Thomson turned aside 34 shots, including 21 in a furious final frame, and the Hurricanes would go on to a 2-1 victory at Mosaic Place.
The loss snapped the Warriors’ eight-game winning streak and saw their record fall to 25-17-3-1, four points up on the Saskatoon Blades in fourth place in the Eastern Conference and seven back of Red Deer.
“We had a lot of chances to put the puck in the net and just couldn’t, but they deserved it, too,” said Warriors captain Daemon Hunt, who returned to the line-up after missing the past three games due to injury. “They were the better team in the first and second period and our neutral zone was just terrible tonight, we were turning pucks over all over the place.
“But we came out in the third period with a lot energy and outplayed them, we just need to do that for 60 minutes. We’ll learn from this and be better.”
The Warriors didn’t get off to their customary fast start, and as a result, goaltender Carl Tetachuk had to be sharp from the opening face-off. That he was, making a host of impressive saves in the opening 20 minutes, including a post-to-post stop on a Lethbridge two-on-none break.
Thing is, Thomson was just as good. And a bit lucky, as all winning goaltenders are -- the Warriors had a two-on-none of their own in the first, but Cordel Larson rang his backhand off the crossbar. Thomson also got the job done on a penalty shot awarded to Eric Alarie after being hooked up on a second-period breakaway.
The Warriors were able to strike first and it was Hunt who did the honours, finishing off a goalmouth scramble with Larson and Atley Calvert to give Moose Jaw a 1-0 lead out of the opening period.
Lethbridge kept up the pressure in the second, though, and were rewarded with back-to-back power-play goals early in the period.
Yegor Klavdiev scored on a perfect shot from the right face-off dot at 2:21 and 3:13 later, Ty Nash would score on a scramble that saw the puck bounce high and over Tetachuk and into the net.
The two markers were the first the Warriors had allowed on their penalty kill in eight games.
That set the stage for the final period and a Warriors surge that saw chance after chance that failed to beat Thomson.
“I’d like to look at the chances we had to hit the back of the net,” Hunt said. “We had so many in the third period but couldn’t score, and I know I had a post in the second period. It was one of those nights where things weren’t going our way.”
Case in point, a situation that developed in the third period. Defenceman Denton Mateychuk took a high stick in the Lethbridge zone that went uncalled, but at the next break in play, the officials reviewed the incident and hit Chase Pauls with a double minor.
The Warriors were unable to score on the extended power play -- again, despite tons of chances -- and Lethbridge was able to run out the clock without damage.
Tetachuk finished with 21 saves in taking the loss.
Moose Jaw is back in action Friday when they host the Prince Albert Raiders. Game time is 7 p.m. at Mosaic Place.
