Blades Cut Warriors 5-4
A tight East Division battle didn’t go the way of the Warriors Friday night as Moose Jaw fell 5-4 to the Blades in Saskatoon.
Special teams played a huge role in the first ten minutes of the game as the clubs exchanged power play goals. Matthew Pufahl gave Saskatoon the lead at 3:25 while Travis Brown responded by scoring his ninth of the year five minutes later on a two man advantage.
Saskatoon took control of the scoreboard in the back half the second, Brendan Walker gave them the lead at 11:04 then Nathan Burns made it 3-1 before the period came to an end.
The tight, emotional, “playoff like” atmosphere continued in the second as the Warriors and Blades exchanged shots along the boards and in front of the net. With six minutes to go in the period Lucas Sutter gave Saskatoon a three goal lead, under three minutes later Sam Fioretti pulled Moose Jaw back to within two with his team leading 21st of the year.
Moose Jaw had opportunities early in the third to close the gap, the most notable came when they were given back to back power plays. Blades Andrey Makarov kept them off the board, keeping Saskatoon’s two goal lead intact.
With less than seven minutes to go in the game the Blades were able to get some insurance, Erik Benoit bounced the puck off a Warrior skate to give Saskatoon their second three goal lead of the game and it turned out to a pivotal goal.
Moose Jaw stormed back to within two with Fioretti’s second of the game at 14:18 to cut the deficit to two. With just over four minutes to go a Spencer Morse wrist shot from the blue line snuck through the pads of Makarov, it was Morse’s first WHL goal and it cut the Blades lead to one.
With time not on their side the Warriors pulled goalie Daniel Wapple for the extra attacker. Moose Jaw was able to get inside the Blades zone but wasn’t able to notch the equalizer, they went on to the narrow 5-4 loss which extends their winless streak to a season high eight games.
Fioretti led the Warriors with two goals and four points; Morgan Rielly had one assist in this first game in a Warriors uniform since December 8th; Wapple made 36 saves in the loss; Duncan Siemens and Michael Ferland had two assists each for Saskatoon; Makarov made 27 saves for the win; Moose Jaw was 1-for-7 on the power play and 3-for-4 on the penalty kill.
The tribe will look to get back in the win column Saturday night when they return to Mosaic Place to square off against Brock Montgomery and the Kootenay Ice. Moose Jaw beat Kootenay earlier this season in a meeting in Cranbrook; this will mark their battle in the Friendly City. Catch all the action with Voice of the Warriors James Gallo, the PreGame Show is on the air at 6:40pm, the puck drops at 7pm.
