A slow start was too much to overcome for the Moose Jaw Warriors as they started their week road trip to the Central Division with a 3-1 loss to the Edmonton Oil Kings.
Edmonton pressured the Warriors throughout the first period, they were able to create a number of turnovers and were able to capitalize.
At 8:11 the Warriors won a battle in their left corner and as they looked to break out they tossed the puck to the middle of their zone where Edmonton’s Tyson Gruninger was able to knock Moose Jaw off the puck. The second year forward drove the Warriors net and put a shot over the glove of Brody Willms for the game’s first goal.
With under four minutes left in the frame the Warriors weren’t able to hold on to the puck on the neutral zone and Edmonton came up the ice. 19-year-old Lane Bauer had the puck along the Warriors blueline and then saw leading scorer Brett Pollock all by himself on the right wing. Pollock too the pass and drove the Warriors net, putting a shot short-side over the glove of Willms to make it 2-0.
In the second period the Warriors attacked the Edmonton zone with more consistency. They outshot the Oil Kings 14-13 in the frame and were able to push the pucks to the front of the net. Unfortunately they weren’t able to beat goalie Payton Lee and went in to the third period still down by two.
Moose Jaw had some “jam” to start the third period but that was silenced three minutes in when the Oil Kings converted on a power play to go up 3-0.
The Warriors were able to break up the shutout bid with a goal from Patrik Maier at 12:37, the goal was Maier’s first as a Warrior.
That would however be as close as Moose Jaw would come as their road trip started with a 3-1 loss. Edmonton outshot the Warriors 37-33, Moose Jaw was 0-for-2 on the power play and 2-for-3 on the penalty kill.
Moose Jaw’s Central Division road trip continues Wednesday in Red Deer with a battle against the Memorial Cup hosting Rebels. Last week in Moose Jaw the Warriors and Rebels had a tight battle that saw Red Deer walk away with a 1-0 overtime win.
Western Nissan Warriors Hockey is back on Country 100 starting with the PreGame Show at 7:40pm.
Source: mjwarriors.ca
