Adam Evanoff put together a big performance in his Western Hockey League debut on Thursday night.

The 17-year-old rookie goalie made 40 saves for the Moose Jaw Warriors as they doubled up the Edmonton Oil Kings 4-2 at Mosaic Place.

“It’s a pretty special feeling, it’s something that you dream (to win your first WHL game).  It couldn’t have gone any better, I was really happy with the effort that we put forward,” said Evanoff, who was peppered with 19 shots in the second period alone and made 12 saves in the third period to preserve the win.

After watching Brody Willms start the first six games of the regular season, it was finally Evanoff’s turn on Thursday and he made the most of it.  He said he shook off some nerves early and was able to lock in for the whole game.

“Whatever comes my way I’m going to be ready for it, so I just try to play my game, it doesn’t matter how many shots you get, I just take it save-by-save,” he said.

“There was a few blunders, but the boys really helped me out.  It was a bit nerve-racking going into your first start in the WHL, it’s something that you dream of, so I thought I handled it well and I was happy with the result.”

The game was back-and-forth with the Warriors doing enough to stay in front of the Oil Kings, but not quite putting in the extra effort to pull away in the win.

“It was a bit of a sloppy game, our work ethic could have been better, but we capitalized on some chances and at the end of the day, we came out with the win, so that’s always good,” said forward Noah Gregor, who led the Warriors’ offence with two goals and three points in the win.

“We can’t be relying just on our skill, we’ve got to step it up here going into Saturday and then our road trip, which will be a big stretch for us.”

Brayden Burke finished with three assists and Tanner Jeannot had a goal and two points in the win.

The Warriors stormed out of the gates and attached the Edmonton net during the opening few minutes.  Their fore-check was relentless, which allowed for extra attack time, but Oil Kings’ 20-year-old goalie Travis Child made numerous key saves to keep the game scoreless early.

With nine minutes left in the first, Warriors’ 17-year-old forward Luka Burzan drove hard down the Edmonton right boards, as he came towards the Oil Kings goal line, he dropped the puck between the circles for Gregor who was trailing and rifled in his fourth goal of the year.

The quick pace continued throughout the second period.  The teams combined for 31 shots in the frame (19-12 Edmonton) and had plenty of odd-man rushes up the ice that were either broken up on a good defensive play or the goaltender made a big save.

With just over eight minutes left in the period, the Warriors finished off a penalty kill and then flung the puck up the ice for Oleg Sosunov coming out of the penalty box.  The 19-year-old Tampa Bay Lightning prospect came in on a breakaway and beat goalie Travis Child blocker side for his fourth goal of the season.

Moose Jaw made it 3-0 just 1:52 later, when Gregor converted on a breakaway for his second of the game.  However, Edmonton got a lift only 19 seconds later with a goal from Colton Kehler to make it a 3-1 game.

Edmonton pressed in the third period as they looked to get back in to the game.  They outshot the Warriors 13-6 in the period and clawed to within one at 14:12 on a goal from Kobe Mohr.

Moose Jaw put the game out of reach with just over three minutes leftwhen Burke and Gregor dug the puck off the Edmonton left boards and set up Jeannot for a big between the circles that beat Travis Child for his second goal of the year.

“Our work ethic needs to get up a little bit, we have guys that are flying by guys and not stopping and being hard on pucks, everyone has been a victim of it, so we’ve just got to be better at that,” said Grergor after the Warriors were out-shot 42-31 by Edmonton in the win.

Moose Jaw was 0-for-2 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.

The Warriors will wrap-up their seven-game homestand on Saturday with their only meeting of the season against the Vancouver Giants.  Catch all the action on Country 100 starting with the Westrum Lumber Timber Mart Pre-Game Show at 6:40 p.m.

Next week, the Warriors will open their season high seven-game, 12-day road trip in Cranbrook, B.C. with their second meeting of the season against the Kootenay Ice.