Warriors finish weekend with 6th straight win
The Moose Jaw Warriors won their 6th straight game Saturday with a 7-2 win over the Edmonton Oil Kings at Rogers Place.
Five minutes in to the game Warriors 20-year-old forward Tanner Jeannot rumbled down the Edmonton left boards. Jeannot looked to play the puck cross ice for Tristin Langan on the right wing but instead it went off of an Oil King defenceman and past the goalie for his 31st goal of the season.
The Warriors went up 2-0 while on the power play at 10:32.
Brayden Burke skate around the Edmonton zone starting at the right boards and then making his way inside the left circle. Burke made a beautiful pass to Jayden Halbgewachs on the right side of the net where he scored his WHL leading 43rd goal of the year.
Within the final moments of the period the Warriors got in to penalty problems and the Oil Kings capitalized
Edmonton had 1:13 to work on a 5-on-3 power play and were able to snag a goal from Davis Koch. Still on the power play with 52 seconds left in the period Ty Gerla had the puck go off his skate and past Brody Willms to tie the game at two.
Moose Jaw had one last rush up the ice where able to set up Tanner Jeannot for a one-timer within the right circle. The shot beat goalie Josh Dechaine and the referee had signalled goal but the video goal judge looked at the play and had indicated that time had expired so the teams went in to the intermission tied at two.
The second period was tight as the teams fought for their ice and combine for just ten shots on net (8-2 Moose Jaw).
With an eight minutes to go in the period Jett Woo inside the right circle and tossed the puck towards the net where it bounced off of Luka Burzan and then hit the Edmonton post. As the puck sat inside the Edmonton crease Burzan quickly chopped it over the goal line for his 6th of the year to give the Warriors the lead.
Then with just over three minutes left in the period Brayden Burke stripped the puck away from the Oil Kings behind their net. Burke came to the right goal line and made a pass to Justin Almeida at the inside hash-marks where his quick shot beat Dechaine, his 23rd of the year game Moose Jaw a 4-2 lead.
2:14 in to the third period the Warriors went up by three when Brayden Burke dangled around the Edmonton zone and eventually found Justin Almeida between the circles where he scored his second of the game.
In the back half of the third the Oil Kings landed on the power play but it was the Warriors who created offence.
Edmonton coughed the puck up high in the Moose Jaw zone which allowed Jayden Halbgewachs to chop it down the ice. The 20-year-old hustled down the ice and picked the puck to the Edmonton left boards and then cut where he put a backhand over the pad of Dechaine for his league leading 44th goal.
In the final four minutes of the game the Warriors added a goal from Tate Popple which put the game out of reach.
Halbgewachs and Almeida finished with two goals each, Brayden Burke picked up three assists, and Brody Willms made 16 saves.
Moose Jaw was 1-for-4 on the power play and 5-for-7 on the penalty kill with a shorthanded goal. Moose Jaw outshot Edmonton 18-9 in the final two periods and 32-18 overall.
The Warriors come out of their Alberta road trip with three wins and improved their overall record to 33-6-1-2 heading in to next week.
Moose Jaw returns to action on Wednesday when they battle the Calgary Hitmen at Mosaic Place. Tickets are available online at www.mjwarriors.ca and at the Mosaic Place Box Office.
The 2018 WHL Trade Deadline is Wednesday at 4pm (CST).
