Warriors fall to Edmonton in return from road swing
Former Moose Jaw Warriors forward Vince Loschiavo scored a pair of goals – including the game winner with 6:22 remaining in the game – as the Edmonton Oil Kings took a 3-2 victory at Mosaic Place in Western Hockey League action on Thursday.
A tight-checking, back-and-forth game broke open in the third period, with the two teams combining for four goals. Josh Brook scored the Warriors’ lone marker of the period, while Andrew Fyten scored Edmonton’s other goal. Quinn Benjafield and Trey Fix-Wolansky each had two assists for the Oil Kings.
“It wasn’t our best effort in the game tonight; our line gave up kind of a weak one there for the game winner, so we have to be better,” said Warriors forward Tristan Langan. “And we had a lot of penalties tonight, we need to stay out of the box and capitalize on our power play chances.”
Carson Denomie scored Moose Jaw’s first goal 7:05 into the second period.
The contest continued a recent trend of the Tribe surrendering nearly 40 shots a game, with the Oil Kings finishing the contest with 39 total. That made for another busy night for Warriors goaltender Adam Evanoff, as he made 36 saves, including a penalty shot stop on Loschiavo in the second period.
The Warriors had 33 shots on Edmonton netminder Todd Scott.
Moose Jaw finished 1-for-5 on the power play, Edmonton was 0-for-3.
The contest was only the Warriors second at home since Jan. 15, as 12 of their last 13 games have been on the road.
“It’s always exciting to come home after a trip like that,” Langan said. “I think that’s what we’re trying to improve on, we need to play harder here and bring more emotion. We have to get going here for the final stretch.” The Warriors fell to 30-15-6-2 on the season with the loss and are now 10 points back of Saskatoon for second in the East Division as well as seven points up on Red Deer in the Eastern Conference Wild Card standings.