MOOSEJAWTODAY.COM -- The Moose Jaw Warriors did what they needed to do against the Portland Winterhawks in Game 1 of the Western Hockey League Championship Final series.
Get off to a great start, get the job done in the defensive zone and find a way to take advantage of chances at key moments.
And while it wasn’t a perfect showing in their 3-2 win at Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Friday night, it was enough to find the win column, and at this time of the season that’s all that matters.
It all started with the game’s opening moments, as the Warriors came out flying in the first 10 minutes and had a handful of chances to take control of the game right off the hop. That was by design, said Warriors head coach Mark O’Leary, as his troops looked to set the tone as quickly as possible in their biggest games of the season.
“I thought the guys did great,” O’Leary said. “We were skating, we were pressuring pucks and as the game went on, especially in the second half of the first period, I thought we played really well. We were a little rusty since we hadn’t been on the ice since Tuesday in Saskatoon, but I thought our start was really good.”
That all led to Atley Calvert and Denton Mateychuk giving the Warriors a 2-0 lead midway through the second period, putting an exclamation point on how things were going for the visitors in the first half of the game.
“We always put more emphasis on playing the right way, but it’s nice to get those two goals, for sure,” O’Leary said. “Especially playing Portland, we know they can score, too, and it’s going to be hard to keep them off the board every night, but we did a good job limiting the scoring chances. Even when we were in our own zone, the guys did a good job of keeping things to the outside and making things as easy as we could for Jackson.”
When Portland did push, Warriors goaltender Jackson Unger needed to be sharp, and while the Winterhawks did find a way to tie things up, the veteran netminder made a slew of huge saves in the latter half of the third period to keep things knotted up.
“At the end of the day, Jackson’s a heck of a goalie, so we feel good that if we can keep the shots coming from outside the dots, we like our chances,” O’Leary said.
It all eventually led to Matthew Savoie scoring the game-winner on a hard-working assist from Calvert with 3:02 left in the game. It was exactly the kind of goal the team had hoped to see from Savoie in key playoff situations when they acquired the Buffalo Sabres prospect at the trade deadline.
“It was a great job by Atley to come up with the puck and get it inside to him, but special players like Savs don’t need many looks like that,” O’Leary said. “He just gets it away so fast and scorers score. That’s his biggest goal as a Warrior in the biggest game of the year and they only keep getting bigger.”
All told, the Warriors pre-series scouting of Portland didn’t yield many surprises when the game became real.
“Yeah, and I think Portland could say the same about us,” O’Leary said. “It was as advertised, we talked about their transition off the rush and I still think we got caught a bit without depth in the offensive zone and we saw how fast they can transition the other way.
“Sometimes you need to see those live bullets up close and our guys did tonight, and it’s nice to learn those lessons with a win.”
Now, it’s time for the quick turnaround. The two teams are right back at it in Game 2 on Saturday night, and O’Leary is expecting his squad to face a buzzsaw.
“That’s why it was so important to win this one, because we’re going to see Portland’s best tomorrow,” O’Leary said. “They’re starting two at home and they’re looking to get on the board with a win of their own. In their own building in Game 2 coming off of a loss, I know we’re going to see their best and we have to make sure they see ours."
