Hurricanes on brink of elimination after Game 3 loss to Warriors

By Lethbridge Herald on April 4, 2023.

Herald photo by JUSTIN SEWARD Lethbridge HurricanesÕ Brayden Edwards and Chase Pauls battle with Moose Jaw WarriorsÕ Brayden Yager during Game 3 of first round WHL playoff action Tuesday night at the Enmax Centre.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The Moose Jaw Warriors are sitting in the driver’s seat as they beat the Lethbridge Hurricanes 6-2 in Game 3 on Friday night at the Enmax Centre and  take a commanding 3-0 first-round series lead.

The offensive woes continued for the Canes on Tuesday night, as they have now scored a total of five goals through three games of the series.

“Yeah we’re just having a hard time scoring,” said Hurricanes head coach Brent Kisio.

“You know I thought our first period was a strong first period. (We) easily could have been up in that period, and Moose Jaw seem to capitalize on their chances and they did and it was  almost like it  kind of shocked our group. We were kind of down and just a lot of mental errors in the second period and kind of gave the game away there.”

Jett Jones thought after the first the Canes were the better team.

“We came out hitting, we were managing the puck really well (and) we were getting around the net. That was our game plan for tonight. I’m really proud of this group’s first period,” said Jones.

However, where the Hurricanes started to fall was coming out with flat second period.

“We didn’t have the intensity we had for the first,” said Jones.

“When you don’t have the intensity, you don’t play as physical (and) that’s  when they start getting chances and getting looks and that’s what happened tonight.”

It was the Warriors’ Atley Calvert who opened the scoring 5:03 into the contest with his second of the postseason from Ben Riche and Denton Mateychuk.

Jones replied for the Canes at 11:13 of the first when he beat the outstretched pad of Moose Jaw goalie Connor Ungar and slid the puck into the back of the net.

Cole Shepard and Tyson Laventure assisted on Jones’ marker.

Jagger Firkus pulled the Warriors ahead 2-1 at 18:52 of the first period when he lifted a back hand over Canes goalie Bryan Thomson in tight.

Brayden Yager notched an assist on Firkus’ marker.

Firkus continued his own personal momentum in the second period  with a pair of goals to complete the natural hat trick.

His second goal of the game came at 8:16 of the middle frame and was unassisted, while his third goal on the night came at 11:28 from Yager.

Martin Rysavy gave the Warriors a 5-1 cushion at 14:58 of the third from Firkus and Maximus Wanner.

Brayden Edwards tipped in his first goal of the postseason at 7:20 of the third period to cut the Warriors lead to 5-2.

Noah Chadwick and Miguel Marques got the assists.

Calvert scored Moose Jaw’s sixth goal into an empty net with a second to go into the game.

A bright spot for the Canes was a powerplay goal and not letting Moose Jaw score on their three chances.

“Yeah we did a good job,” said Kisio.

“I don’t think they scored on their powerplay(s) (and) we scored one. So we won that battle. It’s just even strength is the battle we’re not winning right now.”

The Hurricanes are fighting for their playoff lives in Game 4 and Kisio wants the team to take the one game at a time approach.

“(We’ve) just got to win one game,” said Kisio.

“That hasn’t changed for us. We’ve been searching for a win this series. And  It’s momentum in playoffs and Moose Jaw has all the momentum right now.  But (we’ve) got to regroup and find a way  to win a game.”

The series schedule can be found at http://www.lethbridgehurricanes.com.