The Moose Jaw Warriors and Kelowna Rockets put on a display in speed on Tuesday night at Mosaic Place. Both teams pushed the pace throughout the game, but in the end, the Western Hockey League’s top team found a gear that the Rockets couldn’t hit.

The Warriors scored five unanswered goals in the third period to beat the Rockets, 6-3, and extend their winning streak to six games and their point steak to 12 games.

“We turned it around in the third, we got a good goal and used that momentum to keep going, so it was a good game for us and we want to have a good finish here going into the Christmas break,” said Warriors forward Jayden Halbgewachs, who extended his point streak to 19 games with his 33rd goal of the season.

Tanner Jeannot picked up a pair of goals and finished with three points in the win, while Brayden Burke chipped in with three helpers to pace the offensive attack for the Warriors.  Justin Almeida had two goals as well to round out a big night for Moose Jaw’s top line.

Newly acquired forward Vince Loschiavo made an impact in his Warriors’ debut as he scored the game-winner in the third period, while Ryan Peckford picked up an assist in his first game with Moose Jaw.

“It felt awesome, it was a bit of a whirlwind over the last two days, getting here and everything, but it’s a great place to come to and I’m very excited about this season,” said Loschiavo, who was added in a pair of Monday trades for Moose Jaw.  “I thought we let them get in front with the two-goal lead, but the boys came out hard in the third period, played a great period and got the win.”

Both Loschiavo and Peckford had long travel days to get to Moose Jaw in time for the game, but both players jumped right into the lineup and didn’t look out of place.

Peckford said it was interesting joining a new team and playing right away, but he felt things went well.

“I’m still trying to get into the swing of things with a new team, but I was happy with how it went tonight,” he said.  “I’ll fit in here pretty well, they play a fast, hard paced game and can score, so I’ll fit in really well.”

The two teams set an incredible pace over the first 40 minutes on Tuesday with long stretches of back-and-forth action and scoring chances at both ends of the ice.

Carsen Twarynski opened the scoring for the Rockets with 5:06 to play in the first period, but Jeannot was able to answer for Moose Jaw with a snap shot that tied the game at 1-1 with 1:27 to go in the first period.

The game’s fast pace continued in the second period with Moose Jaw out-shooting Kelowna 13-12 in the period, but the Rockets were the ones that capitalized as they were able to take a two-goal lead on goals from Wil Kushniryk and Kyle Topping only 16 seconds apart.

Warriors forward Vince Loschiavo separates Rockets forward Nolan Foote from the puck with a check during Tuesday's 6-3 win at Mosaic Place. (Photo: Marc Smith)

Needing a big third period to keep their winning streak going, the Warriors went to work early.

Halbgewachs sparked the team with his 33rd of the year just 4:51 into the third and then Almeida followed that up only 43 seconds later to tie the game at 3-3.

Moose Jaw continued to press and Loschiavo scored his first as a Warrior with 9:03 remaining in regulation and that would hold up as the game-winner.  Jeannot and Almeida added their second goals each over the final five minutes to seal the win.

“When you see a line go out there and create momentum for the team, the next line wants to go out there and do the same thing, that’s what we did tonight, we scored two goals back-to-back to give us the momentum and we took over the game right then,” said Halbgewachs.

For a time, it looked like the Warriors were going to be stifled throughout the game by Rockets 16-year-old goalie Roman Basran, who ended up making 34 saves in the loss.

He said he wasn’t intimidated coming in to face the WHL’s top team in just his sixth career appearance, “I never get nervous before a game, I just go into every game the same way, whether its in midget, here or wherever, just stop pucks.

“We were missing three of our big top players (Dillon Dube, Kole Lind and Cal Foote) to the World Juniors and we had some players step up and we played a simple game and got pucks to the net,” said Basran.

Warriors goalie Brody Willms stopped 27 shots for his 19th win of the year.

Both teams went 0-for-2 with the man advantage.

The Warriors will return to the ice this weekend as they close out their pre-Christmas schedule against the Kamloops Blazers on Friday and the Brandon Wheat Kings on Saturday.