Moose Jaw responds with 6-2 win in Brandon

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This article was published 30/12/2022 (724 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An old proverb suggests that turnabout is fair play: The Moose Jaw Warriors are apparently big believers in it.

One night after being spanked 11-2 in their building, the Warriors handed the Brandon Wheat Kings a 6-2 defeat in Western Hockey League action at Westoba Place on Saturday.

Jagger Firkus scored twice for the Warriors (22-13-0-0), with singles coming off the sticks of Ryder Korczak, Atley Calvert, Eric Alarie and Harper Lolacher, with Nate Danielson and Luke Shipley replying for Brandon (14-17-3-0) in front of a crowd of 3,846.

“Obviously it’s a lesson,” Danielson said. “It shows that no matter what happens on one night, every game is different and anything can happen.”

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said his club wasn’t nearly as good in the back half of the home-and-home series.

“I thought we were pretty flat-footed for the most part,” Murray said. “Starting off the game, taking three minors in the first five minutes I thought was a bit of a momentum drag for us. Credit to them, they showed some character and came out with a purpose and we were a step behind.

“We were late to winning pucks, and in the 50-50 battles, they came up with a lot of those. When you do that, you end up chasing the puck around a lot.”

It took Brandon just 20 seconds to be handed a penalty, and while Moose Jaw didn’t convert on the power play, they established their offensive game and opened the scoring three minutes 48 seconds into the game when a bouncing puck landed on his stick of Firkus, who fired a shot over Brandon goalie Carson Bjarnason.

The woes continued in the next minute when Brandon sent the visitors to a 95-second, five-on-three man advantage. The Wheat Kings were able to kill both penalties, with Bjarnason making a tremendous pad save on Korczak.

The shots on goal were 8-0 midway through the period, and when Brandon finally got a power play late in the opening frame, Firkus outduelled Brandon defenceman Quinn Mantei and fired home a shorthanded goal to put the visitors up 2-0 after 20 minutes.

“I thought we didn’t start the way we wanted to,” Danielson said. “(Friday) night wasn’t a great start — (they gave up two goals in the opening 69 seconds) — but I didn’t think we had the same jump (on Saturday) and overall, just the same compete and work ethic.”

The Wheat Kings took their fourth penalty early in the second period and it cost them when the puck popped out to Korczak and he wired it home for his 13th of the season and fifth in the last three games.

Brandon had its chances to draw closer, with Rylen Roersma missing on breakaway and Moose Jaw goalie Connor Ungar — a former Wheat King — sliding across to make a tremendous glove save to deny Calder Anderson.

Moose Jaw extended the lead on their next power play, with Calvert lifting a shot into the top of the net after Brandon had shown some signs of life and finally gained some zone time, and Alarie picked a top corner two minutes later to make it 5-0, ending the night for Bjarnason as he made way for backup goalie Nick Jones.

The Wheat Kings finally broke Ungar’s shutout bid with 1:26 remaining in the second period when Brett Hyland carried the puck hard to the net off the rush with the teams playing four on four. Ungar made the initial save but Danielson jumped on the rebound in the crease and scored his 18th goal of the season.

Shipley brought his team back within three goals 2:24 into the final frame when his slapper from the point through traffic surprised Ungar and found the mesh to make it 5-2.

That’s as close as the comeback bid would get.

After a couple of grievous turnovers by Wheat Kings forwards in their own end, Moose Jaw made it 6-2 with 7:53 remaining in regulation when a shot by Firkus hit Lolacher and bounced over Jones into the net.

Brandon was actually much better in the final frame, outshooting their visitors 13-9 and outchancing them.

“I thought we had a little push,” Murray said. “When we got the second goal, we talked about on the bench that if we got one more, there’s a lot of time on the clock and there’s an opportunity to maybe climb back in.

“They got the sixth one there and that kind of broke our backs.”

Bjarnason and Jones combined to make 27 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Ungar stopping 28 shots for the Warriors.

Brandon went 0-for-2 on the power play, with Moose Jaw scoring twice in six chances.

Moose Jaw head coach Mark O’Leary was pleased with how his group responded.

“I think the big thing for us was our energy and bounce back,” O’Leary said. “We’ve talked about it for a few years with this group that’s grown up together and their resiliency. I think tonight was a good example of that.

“It would have been easy to let (Friday) night affect (Saturday) but I didn’t think it did at all. We played to our structure and with energy and enthusiasm, and when we do that, our skill can take over.”

ICINGS: Brandon skated without D Eastyn Mannix (healthy scratch), D Andrei Malyavin (upper body), F Ben Thornton (upper body, week to week) and F Caleb Hadland (lower body, week to week) … Moose Jaw’s scratches include import forwards Martin Rysavy of Czechia and Robert Baco of Slovakia, who are at the world junior championship … Danielson led the Wheat Kings with six shots on net … The game took two hours, 24 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Moose Jaw won 38-33 … Hyland’s nine-game scoring streak was snapped but he has points in each of his last 10 outings … Brandon hosts the Regina Pats on Wednesday and the Portland Winterhawks on Friday, and then visits the Prince Albert Raiders on Saturday … The Winnipeg Ice made another deal on Saturday, acquiring 19-year-old forward Carson Latimer from the Prince Albert Raiders for 17-year-old forward Aiden Oiring, a third-round pick in the 2024 draft and a conditional third-round pick in the 2025 draft.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @PerryBergson

Warriors 6, Wheat Kings 2

First Period

1. Moose Jaw, Firkus 20 (unassisted) 3:48.

2. Moose Jaw, Firkus 21 (unassisted) 19:35 (sh).

Penalties — Ritchie Bdn (goaltender interference) 0:20, Hammett Bdn (checking from behind) 4:20, Hyland Bdn (tripping) 4:45, Gallant MJ (hooking) 17:48, Henry Bdn (fighting major) 20:00, Brenton MJ (fighting major, 10-minute misconduct) 20:00.

Second Period

3. Moose Jaw, Korczak 13 (Firkus) 2:36 (pp).

4. Moose Jaw, Calvert 17 (Korczak, Mateychuk) 12:45 (pp).

5. Moose Jaw, Alarie 7 (unassisted) 14:28.

6. Brandon, Danielson 18 (Hyland, Ward) 18:34.

Penalties — McQueen Bdn (interference) 1:45, Ward Bdn (cross checking) 12:26, Mateychuk MJ (roughing) 13:17, McQueen Bdn (roughing) 18:09, Dowhaniuk MJ (roughing) 18:09.

Third Period

7. Brandon, Shipley 7 (unassisted) 2:24.

8. Moose Jaw, Lolacher 8 (Firkus, Yager) 12:07.

Penalties — Turner Bdn (tripping) 7:45.

Shots on goal by

Brandon 3 14 13 — 30

Moose Jaw 13 11 9 — 33

Goal (shots-saves) — Moose Jaw: Ungar (30-28) (W, 17-5-0-0); Brandon: Bjarnason (24-19) (L, 12-11-2-0), Jones (14:28, second period) (9-8).

Power plays (goals-chances) — Brandon: 0-2; Moose Jaw: 2-6.

Referees — Ben Croker, Josh Grimm.

Linesmen — Logan Young, Andrew Paul.

Attendance — 3,846 in Brandon.