Tri-City would put an end to their losing streak in their lone home game of the week, using a dominant five-goal third period to power their way to a 7–3 win over the Moose Jaw Warriors.
First Period
Moose Jaw opened the scoring on their first shot of the game, just 6:36 in.
Casey Brown fed Aiden Ziprick at the top of the right circle, and Ziprick went bar-down on Wendt for his 10th of the year.
Not even a minute later, Ismail Abogouche clipped a Warriors player up high, sending Tri-City to a four-minute penalty kill.
Halfway through the kill, Tri-City nearly tied the game on a terrific shorthanded chance. After a Warriors player whiffed on a one-timer, Savin Virk and Grady Martin went off on a two-on-one. Virk centered for Martin, who was all alone in the slot and closing in on Kyle Jones, but he shot it wide.
Despite the pressure, it ended up being a very productive penalty kill for Tri-City, who avoided going down by two.
Martin didn’t miss his next opportunity. With eight minutes left in the first, Cruz Pavao worked his way past a Moose Jaw defender to create what was essentially a two-on-zero. Closing in on the net, Pavao slid a backdoor pass to Martin, who redirected the puck in with his skate — a legal play in the WHL — for his fifth of the season.
With time winding down, Connor Dale took a high-sticking penalty, putting Tri-City shorthanded again for the final two minutes of the period.
Gavin Garland nearly gave Tri-City the lead while shorthanded, using his speed to beat a defender to a loose puck and cutting in front in an attempt to tuck it short-side, but the puck rolled just wide.
Tri-City killed off another penalty, finishing the period tied 1–1 and a perfect 2/2 on the PK.
T.J. Millar spoke about the recent improvement on the penalty kill:
“For us I think, we’re taking a lot of pride in our penalty kill, especially as of late. We had a tough start to the season with our Penalty Kill, but it really has improved. Kudos to Moose Jaw, they have a great dynamic power play. But for us we put a lot of emphasis on getting in those lanes, getting big, blocking shots, managing clears and for in all special teams I think there’s areas that we just continue to take pride in. I think you know how our penalty kill has been as of late, just got to keep rolling on it.”
Second Period
Just 40 seconds into the middle frame, Moose Jaw regained the lead as Connor Schmidt blasted a one-timer from the left point past Wendt.
Tri-City pushed back, controlling much of the play after the early goal. Their power play got a chance when Gage Nagel flipped the puck out of play under pressure for delay of game with six minutes left, but the Americans couldn’t capitalize.
After all the work Tri-City had put in to tie it, Ziprick struck again, notching his second of the night with a slick shot from the slot that beat Grout high glove side to make it 3–1.
Late in the second, Tri-City clawed back within one.
Connor Dale used his elite speed to drive the net from center ice and put a sharp-angle shot on goal. The puck stayed loose as Jones scrambled to cover it, allowing Jakub Vanecek to swoop in and roof it.
After 40 minutes, Moose Jaw led 3–2. The third period would begin four-on-four following late penalties, with Tri-City getting 22 seconds of abbreviated power-play time.
Third Period
The third period turned into the most chaotic — and ultimately the most rewarding — portion of the night as Tri-City produced another massive surge just like the previous game.
After a slow start, Steve Seranka took a hooking penalty, sending Tri-City to their second power play of the night. This time they converted.
At 6:04, Vanecek fired a long shot through traffic that trickled through Jones’ five-hole. It was his second of the night, earning all fans at least a Jack in the Box Jumbo Jack coupon.
Moments later, Tri-City struck again — their third straight unanswered goal and their first lead of the night.
Dale spun along the near boards and tossed a harmless-looking long-range wrist shot toward the net. Somehow it slipped short-side on Jones. Even fans hesitated, reacting only after a delayed realization that the puck was in.
Moose Jaw, now running out of time, hurt themselves again as Riley Thorpe took a hooking penalty. Tri-City’s recently rejuvenated power play couldn’t convert this time, keeping Moose Jaw alive with four minutes left.
But the wheels came off for the Warriors from there, as Tri-City scored three more times in the final three minutes.
Cruz Pavao ended his drought, scoring his first goal since his bobblehead night on December 14, burying a rebound on the power play to effectively seal it.
Millar discussed the recent power-play surge following the game:
“I feel personally we have had some issues like holding onto pucks a little bit too long and it allows lanes to close. You know you look at Vaneceks goal, he found a quick lane and got a puck to the net, he got it to the net and good things will happen. For us, finding success, and scoring on the power play in back-to-back games is huge. So for us, keep working on it, we don’t get to practice for a few days until we get to Calgary but really positive things in the last couple of games.
Jaxen Adam then buried a pair of late goals to make it six-straight unanswered Tri-City goals, bringing his season total to three. Aden Bouchard assisted on Adam’s second goal, giving Bouchard points in back-to-back games for the first time in his WHL career.
Post Game / What’s Next
Tri-City snapped their three-game skid with a commanding 7–3 win, improving to 21-15-3 and moving into fourth place in a wide-open Western Conference.
Assistant coach T.J. Millar spoke about the victory:
“I think you know theres a few things in the last couple games that have been creeping in from a negative aspect. Case in point, our starts haven’t been ideal. Something we relayed to the guys that we got to get to our game early, and if we can’t get to it early, we’ve got to eventually find a way to get there. We’ve got to dig in, be hard on the forecheck. One thing that we’re also putting a lot of emphasis on is shot production and quality of shots. We didn’t necessarily get the start that we wanted. But you know, no different than last night, we had a really strong third period. Fortunately, tonight we were on the positive side of things. So I just think that it’s a testament to our group and how they’ve really bought into getting back to our way of playing.”
Millar also addressed the adversity the team faced, arriving home at 5 AM and playing without top defenseman Charlie Elick due to suspension:
“We have seven defenseman for a reason, you know, one guy goes out, it’s a really good opportunity for guys like Jaxen Adam to get more minutes, put him in different situations. Also with Bouchard who filled in with Jakub Vanecek who I thought did excellent, along with David Byrne. It’s one of those things for me, because I do work with the defense, I am really trying to find ways and positions to put these guys into more opportunities. It’s unfortunate that a guy like Charlie Elick isn’t in the lineup, and we missed them for sure, but what those guys did in those new spots tonight, I thought that it was a real good opportunity for them to showcase themselves and I thought it was really great considering our top defenseman wasn’t in.”
Vanecek discussed the third period and his experience at the World Junior Championship:
“I think in the third period tonight we played more like a team rather than playing like individuals or for yourself. It was very important for us to get back on track with that win. Along with that it was amazing to be with all our players and I really appreciate the coaches that picked me onto the team. It was amazing, we finished second and beat Canada in the Semifinals, and yeah, it was just overall awesome.”
Millar had additional praise for the 17-year-old defender:
You look at a guy who just had exposure to the top level talent in his age group in the world, you can see he has a lot of confidence now. You know we would of loved to see him in a game but kods to us he came back rested and he had that exposure in practices and practice reps at that level consistently everyday getting all the way to the Gold Medal Game. You know no different then when Charlie Elick gets back, we missed him. Hes a guy, especially as a young defenseman, his ability to kill plays, turn on them, get up the ice, find shooting lanes. I thought the first game was a little bit of an adjustment period after being off for so long. But when he got his legs going again like you saw tonight, hes just very dynamic for us.
It was a standout night for Tri-City, highlighted by Vanecek’s two goals and an assist, and a four-point performance from Pavao.
Tri-City outshot Moose Jaw 19–5 in the third period and 39–29 overall. They went 2/4 on the power play and held Moose Jaw to 0/5.
The Americans now head out on a short Eastern Conference road trip beginning Wednesday in Calgary.
