EDMONTON -- The Moose Jaw Warriors have had more than their share of games this season where they showed plenty of heart but didn’t end up with the final result they wanted, and Saturday night in Edmonton offered another case.
After tying the game three times by the midway point of the third period, the Warriors would give up three goals in the final seven minutes and go on to a 6-3 defeat in Western Hockey League action.
The Warriors fall to 11-35-4-2 with their fifth-straight loss and remain in 11th in the Eastern Conference, the Oil Kings improved to 27-19-2-2 and sit in sixth place, two points back of Saskatoon.
It didn’t take any time at all for Edmonton to opening scoring on Saturday, as Ethan MacKenzie got the Oil Kings on the board only 1:46 into the contest, blasting home a one-timer from the top of the face-off circle.
The Oil Kings would take that 1-0 lead out of the period, but Krzysztof Macias would get that one back for Moose Jaw with 7:31 to play in the second. The Warriors overager carried the puck up his wing on a three-on-two and would get off a backhand in close that would elude Edmonton goaltender Alex Worthington.
Cole Miller restored Edmonton’s lead only 11 seconds later when he tipped in Marshall Finnie’s shot from the point.
The Warriors’ power play would strike to tie the game before the period was out, as Pavel McKenzie took a cross-zone pass from Ethan Hughes and hammered a one-timer home with 8:01 to play in the period.
After Miroslav Holinka gave Edmonton a 3-2 lead 1:15 into the third, Ethan Semeniuk tied the game for the third time, taking a feed from the point from McKenzie into the slot before spinning and firing a shot home at the 11:22 mark.
That would be the last good news for Moose Jaw, though, as Rylen Roersma made it a 4-3 game 2:07 later, Adam Jecho added an insurance marker with 4:01 to play and Jecho would score again into the empty net with 33 seconds remaining.
Warriors goaltender Josh Banini finished with 37 saves in the loss, Worthington had 15 saves to secure the victory.
The Warriors will now have the week off before hosting the Brandon Wheat Kings on Friday night. Game time is 7 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
