Hurricanes Fall 4-2 to Warriors on Friday
Moose Jaw, SK – The Lethbridge Hurricanes continued a three-game East Division road trip with a 4-2 loss to the Moose Jaw Warriors on Friday at Temple Gardens Centre.
It marked the first of four meetings on the season between the Hurricanes and Warriors as Lethbridge entered on a five-game winning streak against Moose Jaw. The ‘Canes had an early power play chance when Brady Ness took an interference penalty to put Lethbridge on their first look of the night. The Hurricanes generated a pair of good chances to open the scoring with Luke Cozens – who entered with five goals in his last three games – had a shot go off the outside goal post as the game remained scoreless. Moose Jaw appeared to open the scoring at the 5:40 mark as Riley Thorpe redirected a point shot by Koen Cleaver, but upon review, the goal was disallowed due to a high stick. In the final minute, the ‘Canes pressed pinning the Warriors in their own zone and came close when Logan Wormald – who appeared in his 250th career game with the Hurricanes – cut to the net but was stopped by Moose Jaw goaltender Kyle Jones to keep it scoreless after twenty minutes of play. Lethbridge held the edge shots 10-7 in the opening period.
Moose Jaw had an early power play to open the second period and while they were unable to capitalize with the extra man, the Warriors broke the scoreless tie seconds after a Cozens penalty expired to take a 1-0 lead when Connor Schmidt ripped home his second goal of the season over the glove of Cleaver; Landen McFadden and Casey Brown picked up the assists on the go-ahead goal. Lethbridge came close to tying the game when Enzo DiDomenicantonio had a burst to the net before trying to tuck home a backhand that was stopped by Jones. The ‘Canes tied the game late in the period when Wormald tucked home his sixth goal of the season on a breakaway to make it a 1-1 game; Jack Toogood was credited with the lone assist on the goal as it was even through forty minutes of play. Moose Jaw outshot Lethbridge 11-8 in the middle frame.
In the third period, the Warriors pulled in front with a rebound goal by Landen McFadden just 1:14 into the stanza to put Moose Jaw in front 2-1; Pavel McKenzie and Kash Andresen were credit with the assists on the goal. Just 32-seconds later, the ‘Canes responded with another breakaway goal as Tyden Lafournaise sprung Gavin Lesiuk who buried his fourth goal of the season to tie the game 2-2; with the assist, Lafournaise extended a point streak to three-straight games while Kade Duell earned the secondary assist. Moose Jaw answered to take their third lead of the game on a tic-tac-toe goal by Ethan Semeniuk who finished the three-way passing play from Thorpe and Schmidt to give the Warriors a 3-2 advantage. Lethbridge had a power play midway through the period, but it was Moose Jaw who doubled their lead when Lynden Lakovic scored his team-leading 11th goal of the year to put the Warriors ahead 4-2. The Hurricanes pulled the goaltender late in the game but couldn’t find another goal as the Warriors hung on to the two-goal victory. Moose Jaw outshot Lethbridge 15-7 in the final frame.
The Hurricanes were outshot 33-25 in the game by the Warriors. Lethbridge went 0/2 on the power play while Moose Jaw was 0/1 with the extra man.
Three stars of the game were:
1) Warriors – #10 Connor Schmidt (1 goal, 1 assist)
2) Warriors – #17 Landen McFadden (1 goal, 1 assist)
3) Warriors – #33 Kyle Jones (23-saves)
The loss for the Hurricanes was their second-straight defeat as their record fell to 2-5-0-0 on the year. Lethbridge’s overall record slipped to 3-10-0-1 on the season while falling to 0-3-0-0 against East Division opponents. The ‘Canes are now 0-2-0-0 on their three-game road trip.
The Hurricanes will end their three-game East Division road trip against the Brandon Wheat Kings on Saturday at 5:00pm MT. The ‘Canes will return to the VisitLethbridge.com Arena on Wednesday, October 29th when they welcome the Edmonton Oil Kings at 7:00pm. Tickets for the game can be purchased by visiting the VisitLethbridge.com Arena Ticket Centre, by calling 403-329-SEAT (7328) or online at www.visitlethbridgearena.ca.
