REGINA — It wasn’t quite a Christmas miracle, but the joyous mood in the Moose Jaw Warriors locker room was highly improbable a mere two hours earlier.
Despite being out-shot 24-4 midway through the game, the Warriors scored three unanswered goals to beat the Regina Pats 4-3 in overtime Saturday at the Brandt Centre.
The win sends the Warriors (17-12-4-1) into the Christmas break with a four-point lead on the Pats in the East Division standings and a 10-point hold on a playoff spot.
“I’m thrilled to get two points in here after our first period. Minus three of our best players it’s hard to compete, it’s hard to score,” said Warriors head coach Tim Hunter. “It’s nice to start the break with a win.”
Marc McNulty capped the comeback with a goal with 40.7 seconds left in overtime. The tall Warriors defenceman used his reach to protect the puck as he circled behind the Pats net looking for a play-making option. In the end he banked the puck off the skates of Pats defenceman Liam Schioler and goalie Tyler Brown before trickling across the line.
Like most of the night for the Warriors it was both ugly and effective.
“I don’t even know what I was doing. I was pretty tired. I was just looking to get off the ice,” McNulty said when asked if he was trying to bank the puck in.
“We haven’t had too much luck in overtime in the last little bit, so we tried to keep the puck as much as we could and then change when we had possession.”
McNulty made a beeline to the Warriors’ travelling fans to spread some Christmas cheer. Warriors goalie Zach Sawchenko was also mobbed by his teammates after his 41-save performance.
“Sawchenko played fabulous,” Hunter said. “He was what we needed tonight and that’s why he played tonight.”
The Pats took the game to the visitors from the start. The Warriors spent a disastrous first shift hemmed in their own end after a pair of giveaways and only relieved the pressure when Nikita Popugaev took a delay of game penalty. By time the Warriors got their first shot on goal 13:13 into the first they were already down 2-0.
“We’ve had some slow starts in the last little bit, so we wanted to come out hard in the second and third and see what we could do,” McNulty said.
Ryan Bowen blocked a shot in his own end to start a counterattack and he got the Warriors on the board after burying his own rebound.
The Pats lead 3-1 heading into the third, but Landon Quinney made a smart pass to find Tristan Langan who scored his first WHL goal early in the third.
“Getting that quick one in the third really helped out. I think it made them a little nervous and gave us some momentum,” McNulty said.
The Pats were playing their sixth game in nine nights and Brown was starting his third game in as many nights. The Pats goalie wasn’t at his best. He let a power play shot from Bowen trickle through his pads which tied the game.
“I thought our line played really well tonight and we had a lot of chemistry going,” Bowen said. “Hopefully we can continue that into the New Year.”
Despite being dominated in the first half of the game, the Warriors never panicked. Bowen said they tried to relax, stay focused and keep their game simple — getting pucks deep and moving their feet to get to work on the forecheck to try to force turnovers.
“Chipping pucks deep, getting on the D quickly and getting pucks to the net was working for us,” Bowen said.
The Warriors were missing veteran forwards Brayden Point, Brett Howden and Jiri Smejkal once again. On a night when Noah Gregor was a minus-three and Dryden Hunt was a minus-two, Jesse Shynkaruk had three assists and Bowen scored twice to help shoulder the load.
“Tristan Langan got his first goal. He’s played really well, that’s why he’s here. He works hard, he’s a dog on a bone out there,” Hunter said. “Ryan Bowen has slowly gotten better and better as we’ve gone along here.”
The Pats struck iron twice on a five-on-three power play early in the second period and Zach Sawchenko stopped Austin Wagner on a penalty shot.
“It’s a tough loss for the guys, obviously,” said Wagner who scored 33 seconds after his penalty shot attempt was stopped. “We out-played them for 55 or 60 minutes even. They got two lucky bounces. If that goes the other way we win that game. That’s hockey I guess. I thought that we played a really good team game.”
Colby Williams and Taylor Cooper staked Regina to a 2-0 lead. Schioler chipped in with two assists for the Pats in his second WHL game.
Source: mjtimes.sk.ca
