By Matthew Gourlie
The Moose Jaw Warriors focused on snapping their two-game losing skid one shift at a time.
“It started with the first shift of the game,” said Warriors captain Brett Howden. “I thought we had a good shift — me, (Tanner Jeannot and Jayden Halbgewachs). The D got it moving quick, we got in the zone and got a quick cycle going. I think that was good for us. It the set the tone. From there it was shift after shift that we were playing well in their zone. I think that really started it off for us.”
“We wanted to come ready to play today and we did a much better job than (Friday). We were all into it and competing.”
The Warriors (40-9-1-2) put together a strong 60-minute effort to post a 4-1 victory over the visiting Prince George Cougars to snap their longest losing streak of the season at a paltry two games.
“We bounced back from a loss where we didn’t play our game,” said Warriors centre Justin Almeida who had a goal and two assists against his former team. “We played harder all over the ice. Coming out of the D zone we played simpler — D-to-D and then up. In the offensive zone we had guys around the puck at all times and we were getting to the net, which was a big difference.”
Thanks to the heroics of Cougars goalie Taylor Gauthier, it took the Warriors some time to breakthrough and it wasn’t until the third period that they finally made their lead comfortable.
“Obviously they’re the best team in the league for a reason,” said Gauthier who made 44 saves in the loss, many of which were Grade A stops. “We knew coming in that this game was going to be tough. I think we did the best we could and that’s really all we can ask for.”
The Cougars (19-27-4-4) picked up three points in six games on their East Division road trip.
“We didn’t get the results we wanted, but I thought we played really well. There were some games that could have gone either way,” Gauthier said. “I’m just looking forward to getting home. We have a big weekend coming up against Kamloops and hopefully we can get some points there.”
Brayden Burke opened the scoring from the side of the net late in the first period for Moose Jaw.
The Warriors earned the first four power plays of the game as they spent a lot of time in the Cougars zone. They finally capitalized on the man advantage as Almeida scored to give them a 2-0 lead after two periods.
The Cougars had some good push-back shifts after each goal, but Warriors goalie Adam Evanoff made some good saves to keep the visitors at bay.
Tate Popple was left alone in front and out-waited Gauthier to put Moose Jaw ahead 3-0 and Brandon Schuldhaus ripped his third of the year to give the Warriors a 4-0 lead.
Josh Maser scored on a five-on-three power play with 3:10 left to spoil Evanoff’s shutout bid. It was Maser’s 23rd of the season.
While the teams only meet once a season, there was plenty of animosity that built during the game. Moose Jaw’s Darcy DeRoose and Prince George’s Cole Moberg scrapped in a third period that threatened to boil over further.
Evanoff finished with 22 saves to earn the win.
