A relentless offensive attack powered the Moose Jaw Warriors to a big East Division on Sunday in Manitoba. The Warriors put 40 shots on net and went on to win, 6-2, over the Brandon Wheat Kings at Westoba Place.

"We come off two games against Swift (Current) where we kind of let them play their game and we didn't push it too much, so we know coming in here we had to have a fast start, the first ten minutes was big for us and we did that, so it makes the game a lot easier," said forward Justin Almeida, who led the Warriors with two goals in the win.

Moose Jaw scored early and often to take a 3-1 after one and a 5-1 lead after two. They fired 30 shots on net through the first two periods as well.

Brandon product Tate Popple scored against his hometown team in the win, finishing off the scoring for the Warriors in the third period. He said the Warriors have found a groove in the offensive zone.

"Everybody from the first line to the fourth line, all six D and Sammy in net, we played a good game," said Popple.

"The amount of shots that we're getting is huge, you can't score unless you put pucks to the net and get shots, so if we keep doing that, we'll keep putting up the numbers that we are now."

The win moved the Warriors to eight points in front of the Wheat Kings for third place in the East Division. Moose Jaw also has a game in hand on Brandon.

"We have to get focused for tomorrow because they're going to come out wanting to get us back, so we need to come focused and put together a strong first ten minutes," said Almeida of the rematch between the two teams on New Year’s Eve at Mosaic Place.

In Sunday's win, the Warriors were able to pressure the Wheat Kings on the opening shift of the game, as the line of Tristin Langan, Justin Almeida, and Brayden Tracey forced the puck behind the Brandon net. Tracey forced a turnover along the left goal line and then made a quick pass to Almeida on the right side of the crease where he scored his tenth of the season 23 seconds into the game.

Brandon tied the game at one only three minutes later when 16-year-old affiliated player Nolan Ritchie scored his first WHL goal when he picked up a rebound on the right side of the Moose Jaw net.

The Warriors went back out in front at 7:30 when Jett Woo scored his seventh of the year with a seeing-eye wrist shot from the right point.  Woo's goal was a historic one, as it was the 9000th in Warriors' franchise history.

In the final seconds of the period, the Warriors kept attacking the Brandon net, Matthew Benson took a shot from inside the right point, Brandon goalie Ethan Kruger wasn't able to handle the puck cleanly which allowed Langan to tip in his team-leading 27th goal, which came with 1.7 seconds left in the period.

Approaching the eight-minute mark of the second period and on the man-advantage, the Warriors added to their lead when Daemon Hunt came streaking down the Brandon right boards and made a pass to the middle of the ice where Kaeden Taphorn ripped in his fourth of the year.

Moose Jaw made it 5-1 with 14 seconds left in the second when Almeida and Tracey came across the Brandon line on an odd-man rush. Almeida controlled the puck on the right wing and went to pass the puck over the Tracey, the puck ricocheted off the Wheat Kings defenceman and past Kruger.

Approaching the six-minute mark of the third period, Tate Popple skated to the Brandon right circle and lifted a backhand to the back of the net for his eighth of the season.

Brandon added a goal from Braden Schneider at the midway point of the period but that's all they were able to muster and the Warriors went on to the 6-2 win.

Woo and Langan had a goal and two points, while Daniil Stepanov picked up two assists to snap a 15-game streak without a point.

Stepanov said that the two-point game was a big monkey off his back, "Yesterday, I went to the church and I asked God to get some points and I hope it will continue," said the rookie import. "I was a little bit angry with myself, I did the same stuff, I work hard, I was just a little bit unlucky."

Brodan Salmond made 27 saves to backstop the Warriors to the win.

Moose Jaw had a 40-29 advantage on the shot clock and they were 1-for-7 on the power play while going 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.

These two division rivals will close out 2018 on Monday with a New Year's Eve rematch at Mosaic Place, tickets are available at www.mjwarriors.ca.

You can catch all the action on Country 100 starting with the Pre-Game Show at 6:40 p.m.