Warriors down Blades 5-1 in Game 1 of WHL series

The Moose Jaw Warriors took care of business on home ice Friday, winning Game 1 of their playoff series against the Saskatoon Blades by a 5-1 margin at Mosaic Place.

“We did a real good job of establishing what we’re all about. I thought we won races to pucks and won battles for loose pucks, which was huge for us,” Warriors head coach Mark O’Leary said.

But in the other dressing room, Blades head coach Brennan Sonne said his team just couldn’t “connect the dots” in its first playoff game and only second game since April 8.

“Our execution was tough. I don’t know what attribute that to; we have only played one game in the past two weeks so it’s possibly that, but I’m not sure,” Sonne said. “Our competitive nature defensively needs to be much better. It was below our standard. It was not to our standard in terms of our competitiveness.”

The slimmest of margins separated the teams in the WHL’s Eastern Conference regular-season standings, with Moose Jaw (37-24-4-3) finishing ahead of the Blades (38-26-3-1) by just one point to earn home-ice advantage in the series. The Blades won the regular-season series between the teams 6-2-0-0.

“You scratch and claw all season long for the opportunity to play in front of your home crowd right off the hop. It’s a close margin of error and it will be no different here in this series,” O’Leary said.

The fourth-seeded Warriors found the net first in this battle between Saskatchewan rivals, with hometown product Atley Calvert tipping a pass from Martin Rysavy past Blades goaltender Nolan Maier in the opening frame.

Later in the opening period, Jagger Firkus put the puck past Maier with a lacrosse-style goal on the power play.

The Firkus Circus is thriving!#WeAreRelentless | #WHLPlayoffs | @firkusjagger pic.twitter.com/DdpZefH0go

— x – Moose Jaw Warriors (@MJWARRIORS) April 23, 2022

“I don’t practise it too often but with my skill set, I’m confident in doing it,” said Firkus, who added an assist to his stat line in the game as well. “(It’s one of those things) where I’m going to try this and see how it happens and see how it goes and that’s what I did tonight and thankfully, it went in.”

During the regular season, the Warriors’ power-play unit was 14th in the WHL, scoring on 20.2 per cent of its chances.

In the second period, the Blades — who are the fifth seed in the conference — were able to get onto the scoreboard after a shot went off the boards behind the net and right to a waiting Josh Pillar, who put the first puck past Moose Jaw goalie Carl Tetachuk.

But later in the second period, the Warriors once again opened the lead up to two, with Maximus Wanner putting a backhand shot in the top corner.

In the third period, the Warriors added to their lead, with Majid Kaddoura firing a puck from the point past Maier.

Later in the period, Ryder Korczak squeaked a puck past Maier for the Warriors’ fifth goal.

That goal also marked the end of Maier’s night in net, with Ethan Chadwick coming in to finish the game.

“I thought we let (Maier) down. He gives us a chance to win every night but when we’re not playing in front of him and we’re giving up two, three chances that are point blank, it’s tough on him,” said Saskatoon’s Kyle Crnkovic. “That was on us and he has been unbelievable for us.”

Both teams played without their respective captains in the lineup.

Daemon Hunt hasn’t played for Moose Jaw since March 18. Blades captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere had his season come to an end on March 30 after deciding to have surgery for an injury. His replacement as team captain was Tristin Robins, but he last played on April 2 and is dealing with a lower-body injury.

Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is set for Saturday in Moose Jaw.

“I think it’s better (to play right away). It’s fresh and we can learn from it and bring it tomorrow. We have to respond better than today,” Crnkovic said.

“We know we’re going to have a better team tomorrow (from) Saskatoon and we need to be a better Moose Jaw team as well,” O’Leary said.