The Moose Jaw Warriors received a lesson in playing a full 60 minutes during Game 1 of their first-round series against the Saskatoon Blades on Friday night.

The Warriors were outshot 24-8 over the final two periods and overtime, as the Blades came back to win 3-2 in overtime at SaskTel Centre, striking first in the best-of-seven series.

"We took the foot off the gas, we just didn't compete on pucks and pressure on pucks like we normally do and they had some room to make some plays," said Warriors head coach Tim Hunter after the loss.

"Disappointing, we had good control of the game, we give up four straight power plays, struggle from there and they get a lucky goal at the end."

Blades captain Chase Wouters won the game 3:23 into the extra period as he broke down the win and beat Warriors goalie Brodan Salmond from a bad angle. It was a tough end to a spectacular night from Salmond, who stopped 35 shots in the loss for the Warriors.

"There's a lot of pucks that went in that he stopped in that game, I didn't lose any confidence, there's no worry about that, people make mistakes and stuff happens," said Warriors captain Josh Brook, who finished with an assist in the loss.

After a scoreless first period, the Warriors jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the second period.

Kaeden Taphorn opened the scoring for Moose Jaw as the Warriors forced a turnover high in the Blades' zone and the Yorkton product finished on a rebound off a shot from Luke Ormsby.

Only 1:31 later, Brook raced the puck up ice and into the Blades' zone before dropping the puck to 15-year-old Eric Alarie, who wired a wrist shot top shelf for his first Western Hockey League goal.

"It felt pretty good, but at the end of the day, we have to win the game and play harder through all three periods," said Alarie, who was the Warriors' first-round pick in the 2018 WHL Bantam Draft and just completed his season with the Rink Hockey Academy.

"It's really faster than back in midget, I'm just trying to give them the puck and help the guys play."

Saskatoon was able to get on the board just a few minutes after Alarie’s goal when forward Max Gerlach blasted a slap-shot past Salmond on the power play.

That was when the game started to turn in the Blades' favour as would build momentum off the goal, helped by two more power plays in the second half of the second period and another earlier in the third.

"We just stopped playing our game, which is what made us successful in the first two periods," said Brook. "We stopped moving our feet, pressuring them and we weren't getting pucks out, and that was the big issue. If we play like we did in the first two periods, we win that game."

Riley McKay banged in the game-tying goal with 8:12 to play in regulation and the Blades carried that momentum into overtime for Wouters' winning goal.

Saskatoon goalie Nolan Maier 21 saves in the win.

Game 2 of the series goes on Saturday in Saskatoon, You can catch all the action on Country 100 with James Gallo and Marc Smith, starting with the Pre-Game Show at 6:40 p.m.