Brody Willms was pulled in the third period of Game 1 to cap a disappointing outing for the Moose Jaw Warriors goalie.
Willms bounced back as the Warriors won the next two games in overtime and Wednesday night, the 19-year-old posted a 32-save shutout in a massive 2-0 Game 4 win in Prince Albert.
The Warriors now lead their best-of-seven Western Hockey League first round series with the Prince Albert Raiders 3-1 as they head home Saturday for Game 5 at Mosaic Place.
The Warriors scored twice late to tie Game 3 Tuesday and then won the game 19 seconds into overtime.
That heart-breaking loss didn’t keep the Raiders down. Less than 24 hours later, Prince Albert was back to playing their tight-checking, physical brand of hockey for 60 minutes. Standout Raiders defenceman Brayden Pachal set an early physical tone by sending Moose Jaw’s 70-goal man Jayden Halbgewachs flying as he tried to cut across the slot.
Moose Jaw’s Justin Almeida finally found the breakthrough as he opened the scoring with 3:57 left in the second period.
Vojtech Budik had scored a power play goal in consecutive games and nearly made it three straight when he struck iron in the third period.
The Raiders thought they had tied the game in the third period when Cole Fonstad buried a rebound, but the officials called the goal back due to incidental contact by Prince Albert’s Max Martin on Willms.
No goal as it's ruled Martin collided with Willms. He's at least partially out of the crease though when contact is made. Raider fans not happy. Still 1-0 Warriors pic.twitter.com/sxkDHK8Tl1
— Jeff D'Andrea (@Jeff_paNOW) March 29, 2018
That decision had the Art Hauser Centre faithful up in arms. The Warriors were outraged themselves when Raiders forward Sean Montgomery hit Ryan Peckford from behind late in the second period. Peckford was left bloodied and didn’t return to the game. To add insult to injury, that sequence ended with Josh Brook taking a retaliatory penalty to give the Raiders a power play to start the third period.
Willms made a big stop on Pachal with just over minutes remaining and held the fort until Brook was able to spring Brayden Burke for an empty-net goal with
16 seconds left. Brook and Burke each had two-point nights.
The Raiders were 0-for-4 on the power play, while the Warriors were 0-for-1.
Ian Scott made 20 saves in goal for the Raiders.
