By Les Lazaruk
Oh, the hardships of being the best!
The Western Hockey League’s top team is looking for “uncomfortable” situations to be put in over the final third of the 2017-18 regular-season in order to get them “battle ready” for, what they hope will be, a long playoff run.
The Saskatoon Blades did that Sunday afternoon at SaskTel Centre.
WHL points leader Brayden Burke snapped a 3-3 tie with 7:03 remaining in regulation time, giving the Moose Jaw Warriors a 5-3 victory over the Bridge City Bunch.
The Warriors never trailed in the contest, winning their third straight game and 38th overall of the campaign. After no playing since Friday’s 5-3 win in Regina, Moose Jaw led 2-1 and 3-1 at the period breaks. However, the Blades rallied on Josh Paterson’s second goal of the game…on his 19th birthday…and Eric Florchuk’s third goal in back-to-back home tilts, taking a large chunk out of the Warriors’ comfort level before Burke notched the game-winning tally.
“As far as the first period, I think we kind of came out a bit flat,” assessed Saskatoon assistant coach Ryan Keller. “We were guilty a little bit of just being happy with how things went (Saturday) night (a 4-3 overtime victory over visiting Regina). They kind of felt like that was enough and if we can (win) today, then great. But, if we’ll just go out there and see what happens. We really didn’t take charge ”
Moose Jaw captain Brett Howden, Brecon Wood, Justin Almeida and Jayden Halbgewachs, the latter into an empty net, completed the goal-scoring for the 38-7-3 Warriors…the first place team in the East Division, Eastern Conference and the overall WHL standings.
The Bridge City Bunch were outshot 36-19 as their record dropped to 23-22-3 for the season…2-4-0 since the January 10 WHL Trade Deadline passed. The Blue and Gold start a new week of games with a Wednesday visit to Regina.
Pacman Points – Moose Jaw leads the season series over the Blades 3-1 with two games remaining. The Warriors are 17-3-3 against East Division rivals, 18-5-1 on the road and 8-1-0 in 2018.
Almeida’s goal was the 100th point in his WHL career. The 18-year-old Kitimat, B.C. product has six goals in the last seven Moose Jaw games.
Burke and Halbgewachs are 1-2 in the WHL points race…Burke with 93, including a league-leading 71 assists. Halbgewachs’ empty-net marker gives him 51 goals for the campaign, the most of anybody in the WHL.
For the second straight day, there were no penalties called in the third period. Referees Adam Byblow and Troy Murray only whistled down five minors the entire game…three of them to Saskatoon. Neither team connected on the power play.
The Bridge City Bunch didn’t change their lineup from Saturday’s extra time triumph over Regina… defenceman Mark Rubincik and right winger Caleb Fantillo are sidelined by Lower Body injuries while rookie left winger Tyler Lees was a healthy scratch.
Moose Jaw sat 17-year-old, highly-touted prospect defenceman Jett Woo for a rest while left wingers Branden Klatt and Tristyn DeRoose were “coaches decisions.”
The Warriors won 34 of 54 faceoffs for the 60 minutes with Tristan Langen winning eight of 13 trips to the dot. Chase Wouters paced the Blades by capturing possession on 11 of 22 draws.
Sixteen of 18 Moose Jaw skaters posted at least one shot on goal with no-one on the Warriors registering four shots…those players being Howden and Tanner Jeannot. Paterson and Florchuk topped the Blades with four shots on goal apiece.
