The Family Day Long Weekend ended on a positive note for the Moose Jaw Warriors on Monday afternoon as they went into Westoba Place and beat the Brandon Wheat Kings, 6-3, avoiding the team’s first three-game losing skid of the season.

Justin Almeida had two goals and Jayden Halbgewachs picked up a goal and three points to lead the Warriors to the win.  Brayden Burke returned to the lineup after missing two games and finished with a goal and two points.

After a pair of disappointing losses earlier in the long weekend, the Warriors came out focused and determined in the first period. They used their speed and skill to come up the ice and they were able to create extra attack time due to second efforts and winning battles along the offensive boards.

Just 7:09 into the game, Warriors’ 20-year-old Tanner Jeannot fought the puck away from a Brandon defenceman and skated across the Wheat King right line where he connected with Captain Brett Howden streaking through the middle and he snapped the puck over the blocker of Logan Thompson for his 22nd goal of the season.

Just under two minutes later, Halbgewachs jumped onto the ice on a line change and grabbed the puck in the neutral zone, he burst down the right wing and was able to get around the defenceman and drive to the net where he finished the rush with his league-leading 56th goal.

Moose Jaw went up 3-0 at 13:47, when Almeida, Burke and Ryan Peckford connected on a pretty passing play. Burke controlled the puck inside the right circle and found a seam to move the puck to Peckford inside the left circle, as the Brandon goalie came out to challenge for the shot Peckford passed the puck cross-ice to Almeida on top of the right crease where he guided in his 32nd goal.

Moose Jaw outshot Brandon 19-8 in the first period, but despite having limited shots the Wheat Kings had great chances. Warriors’ rookie goalie Adam Evanoff made a big save on Brandon’s Stelio Mattheos and stopped Gunnar Wegleitner on a breakaway.

Special teams was a big part of the second period, as the teams combined for two power play goals and added a shorthanded marker.

After Jett Woo was given a major and game misconduct for a hit on Ty Lewis, the Wheat Kings were given a five-minute power play and late in the man advantage, Brandon picked up a goal from Connor Gutenberg.

The Warriors came back with a shorthanded goal right afterwards from Justin Almeida to go back up by three.

They extended their lead at 13:50, while working on the power play. Burke came off the right Brandon boards and fought his way to the inside hash marks where his shot beat Thompson for his 29th goal.

On the Burke’s goal, Jayden Halbgewachs picked up his second assist of the game and his third point. The three points moved him past former Captain Jason Bast and into fourth all-time in Warriors scoring with 255 points.

Brandon pushed back in the third period and got a power play goal from James Shearer at 8:47 to make it a three-goal game, but the Warriors responded with a goal from Trystin DeRoose to go back up by four.

The Wheat Kings added another power play goal with five minutes left in the game, but that would be as close as they would get.

Moose Jaw was 1-for-3 on the power play and 1-for-4 on the penalty kill.

The win was Tim Hunter’s 137th on the Warriors bench, which pulls him in to a tie with Al Tuer for the franchise’s wins record.

The Warriors are now 44-11-1-2 on the season and sit two points ahead of the Broncos for first in the East Division and they have two games in hand.

The Warriors have Tuesday off to get ready for a big showdown with the Swift Current Broncos coming up on Wednesday at the Credit Union Iplex. Catch all the action on Country 100 starting with the Westrum Lumber Timber Mart Pre-Game Show at 6:40 p.m.

Coming up this weekend is the Conexus Warriors and Legends Hall of Fame Banquet. On Friday, Jason Fitzsimmons, Rob Reimer and Toby Tobias will be inducted in to the Warriors Hall of Fame and then before Saturday’s game the trio will be honoured at Mosaic Place.