Three minutes in the second period cost the Moose Jaw Warriors three goals and led to a 5-3 loss to the Saskatoon Blades on Saturday at Mosaic Place.

Friday's game between these two teams was tight, as they fought for the opportunities, that theme continued on Saturday, as they made it hard on each other to create scoring chances.

At 5:28, Saskatoon's Tristen Robins rushed out of the Blades’ zone and headed north up the ice on the right wing, Robins made a nice cross-ice pass to Riley McKay on the left wing where he tipped the first goal of the game.

On the next shift, the Warriors came right back at the Blades. Kale Clouston took a shot from along the left goal line that went off the side of the net. Kaeden Taphorn grabbed the loose puck behind the net and then set up Tate Popple on the left side of the crease where he hammered in his seventh of the season to tie the game at one.

Moose Jaw took the lead with under three minutes left in the period when Josh Brook took a shot from the right circle and Keenan Taphorn deflected in for his eighth of the season. 

Saskatoon made good defensive adjustments in the second period, which limited the Warriors to just five shots in the frame.

On the other side of the ice, the Blades tied the game at 8:24 on a goal from Zach Huber, they took the lead at 10:58 on a shot from Brandon Schuldhaus, only 16 seconds later, Gary Haden made it 4-2, and then with under five minutes left in the period, Josh Paterson put Saskatoon up by three.

Moose Jaw picked up the pace in the third period, as they tried to claw back into the game. They outshot the Blades 15-3 in the period and pulled to within two after a power play goal from Tristin Langan at 6:36.

For the rest of regulation, the Warriors created quality chances, but they weren't able to finish and suffered the 5-3 loss.

Moose Jaw outshot the Blades 31-25. They were 1-for-1 on the power play and didn’t take a penalty in the game.

The Warriors return to action next weekend when they wrap up their pre-Christmas schedule with a weekend series against the Regina Pats, which starts on Friday in the Queen City and then on Saturday back in Moose Jaw.