MOOSEJAWTODAY.COM -- The Moose Jaw Warriors are back in the win column.
The Warriors scored three goals in the third period to erase a 2-0 deficit and went on to a 4-2 win over the Victoria Royals in Victoria on Friday night.
Moose Jaw had lost their previous eight games in Western Hockey League action, with the victory coming in the fourth contest of their five-game swing through the B.C. Division.
The Warriors improved to 4-10-2-0 and moved into a tie for 10th place in the Eastern Conference with the Prince Albert Raiders. Victoria fell to 8-4-1-1 and remain tied for third in the Western Conference.
Victoria received the first power play of the game two minutes into the game and looked to have scored the game’s opening goal with 11 seconds left in the man advantage, but Jackson Unger had held the puck long enough during a scramble to have the whistle blown just before it was poked in.
A couple minutes later, Victoria got one for real.
With Unger playing with a broken stick, Teydon Trembecky would take a pass cross-ice from the boards from Brayden Boehm and would put home a shot from the right face-off circle with 5:46 gone.
Unger had to be sharp as the period progressed, as the Royals continued to press, including a breakaway by Reggie Newman shortly after the first media timeout.
The Royals received their second power play of the game at the 11:37 mark, and they’d get their second of the game.
Newman got the finish this time, tipping a shot from the point by Nate MIsskey top shelf blocker side with one second left in the penalty kill.
Moose Jaw received their first power play with three minutes to play in the first, but would only manage a single shot and Victoria would head into the break with the 2-0 lead.
It was Victoria goaltender Jayden Kraus who had to be on his game to start the second period, as the Warriors had a handful of chances in the first 10 minutes, including shots in close by Aiden Ziprick and Max Finley that Kraus was able to stop.
The Warriors had a great chance to get back in the game when Victoria took back-to-back minors to put Moose Jaw on a two-man advantage for 1:12 late in the period. They’d have a slew of chances, but the Royals would get blocks in front or saves from Kraus to preserve the shutout.
All told, the Warriors would have only two shots get through on the power play.
Moose Jaw finally caught a couple of breaks 2:24 into the third period, and it led to their first goal. Connor Schmidt jumped on a turnover in the high slot, found a bit of space and beat Kraus with a shot blocker side.
A mere 22 seconds later, the Warriors would tie the game.
Former Royals defenceman Kalem Parker did the honours, taking a cross-zone feed from Lynden Lakovic and getting a shot off from the left face-off circle to make it a 2-2 game.
Moose Jaw kept coming in the early part of the period, and Owen Berge would give the visitors their first lead with 5:15 gone. Rilen Kovacevic sent a pass from the blueline and found Berge coming up on his wing, with his quick shot finding the net top shelf glove side.
There things remained until 26 remained in the game, when Kovacevic outraced a Royals defender and got a pass from the corner out front to Ethan Semeniuk, who tapped the puck into the empty net for the 4-2 lead.
That would mark the end of scoring on the night, and the Warriors were back in the win column.
After giving up the two first period goals, Unger was lights out and stopped all 20 shots he faced through the second and third periods for a total of 30 saves. Kraus capped his night with 21 stops.
The Warriors wrap up their B.C. Division road swing on Saturday night when they’re in Vancouver to take on the Giants. Game time is 8 p.m.
