Adam Evanoff’s return sparks Warriors to 5-2 win.

Turning aside 38 shots in his return to action for the Moose Jaw Warriors, Adam Evanoff was the story of this game. Evanoff had not played since an overtime loss on March 27th due to having hip surgery in the off-season.

Through two periods, Evanoff had stopped everything that came his way, including chances on two power plays. The total was 24 shots.

Meanwhile, the Warriors were staking themselves to a 3-0 lead and the pulling of Ethan Anders.

Brayden Tracey (photo-Marc Smith)

Two of those goals came off the stick of Brayden Tracey. He would have four by the end of the night.

His first goal came after a scoreless first. Both teams played each other tight and didn’t allow much of anything offensively in the first 20 minutes.

Tracey’s fifth goal of the season came just 1:34 seconds into the middle stanza. Ryder Korczak picked up the first of a career-high four assists for him on the night as his shot created a rebound that went to the side of the net where Tracey was standing.

Chris Douglas (Photo: Portland Winterhawks/Matthew Wolfe)

It didn’t take long for the Warriors to extend their lead, and again it was Tracey with the marker. With Chris Douglas in the box for tripping, the Warriors got to work quickly. After passing the puck around the top of the circles and the blue line, Tracey ripped a wrist shot from just inside the circle to the right of Anders and it was 2-0 just 11 seconds into the man-advantage.

Then with 5:53 to play in period two, Matthew Benson‘s point shot deflected in front of Anders and wound up in the back of the net. That goal spelled the end of the night for Anders as he had allowed three goals on just 10 shots.

The Warriors were cruising at this point, despite being outshot by the Rebels 24-13 at the whistle for the end of the period. Moose Jaw was looking for their first win on home ice against the Rebels since September 30th, 2017.

On another power play early in the third period, the hats were tossed onto the ice as Tracey scored his third goal of the game. After a shot by Jadon Joseph, the puck sprang free in the slot and Tracey was quick to the rebound and made it 4-0 Moose Jaw.

Korzack collected his fourth assist of the night.

Less than a minute later, the Rebels found a way to beat Evanoff. Their 26th shot on net turned the red light on as Douglas was found wide-open by Brett Davis in front of Evanoff and made no mistake scoring his fourth goal of the season.

Red Deer thought they had gotten themselves back into the game just 17 seconds later as Douglas scored again. Davis’ original shot went by the net and came back in front. Douglas put it behind Evanoff but the goal was waved off due to incidental contact.

On a power play of their own, the Rebels mustered up another goal to make it 4-2. Their second goal came three minutes and forty-one seconds after their first.

With friends and family in the rink, Moose Jaw native Jaxsen Wiebe scored his second goal of the season. The puck was fired at Evanoff by Christoffer Sedoff and the rebound went right to Wiebe, his shot bent the twine.

Unfortunately, it was all for naught. Red Deer pulled Fancy for 34 seconds with 17:46 to play and Tracey sealed the game with an empty-net goal after Carson Denomie made an attempt to get the puck to the net.

The final score in this game was 5-2 Moose Jaw. Red Deer has now lost seven games in a row (0-5-0-2), Moose Jaw has won two straight.

Red Deer moves on to play Regina on Sunday afternoon, Moose Jaw hosts Prince Albert on Saturday night.

Rebel Yell…  The three stars were 1) Brayden Tracey 2) Ryder Korczak 3) Adam Evanoff. Moose Jaw was 2-for-4 on the power play, Red Deer was 1-for-5. Final shots were 38-17 in favour of the visiting Rebels. Arshdeep Bains led all players with 6 shots on net. Tracey was a perfect 4-for-4 shooting on the night. Anders has been pulled four times in the last six games he has started. The game was the first of six on the road for the Rebels.