The Moose Jaw Warriors led all game, but they needed overtime to skate away with a 7-6 win over the Saskatoon Blades on Tuesday night at Mosaic Place.

Brayden Burke scored with 1:03 left in the extra period to lift the Warriors to their third straight win, but it’s a game that the team is walking away disappointed in how the overall game went.

The Warriors led 3-0 after the first and 6-2 early in the third period, but the Blades scored four unanswered to force the game into overtime.

“Guys started thinking that it was going to be an easy night (after the first period), obviously with where they are in the standings and where we are, but we have the best division in the league and any team can beat any team from top-to-bottom, so we’re going to have to take it as a learning experience,” said Burke after registering a goal and four points in the win.

Moose Jaw entered the third period with a 5-2 lead and they extended their advantage to four goals when rookie forward Tate Popple ripped a shot top shelf just 2:55 into the final frame.

The Blades fired right back with Brody Goethals scoring on 16 seconds later to cut the lead back down to three. Then, Cameron Hebig, Josh Paterson and Caleb Fantillo all scored about six minutes apart to allow Saskatoon to come storming back to tie the game.

Burke said the Warriors need to manage the highs and lows in a game better moving forward.

“We’ve got to learn to balance ourselves better,” he said.  “You’re going to get scored on, you’re going to get a bad penalty that you don’t think goes your way, but you can’t let it effect how you’re playing the game.”

Moose Jaw came flying out of the gate to start the game with Jaxan Kaluski scoring his first WHL goal just 4:29 into the first period.  Kaluski crashed into the net on the goal and would leave the game a short time later.

The Warriors continued to roll over the rest of the period, outshooting the Blades, 15-5, and Jayden Halbgewachs picked up his 21st and 22nd goals of the season to make it 3-0 after one.

Tanner Jeannot scored a shorthanded goal just 4:09 into the second period, but the Blades found some life with a pair of goals from Hebig, who finished with a hat trick in the losing effort.

Justin Almeida righted the ship for Moose Jaw heading into the third with his 12th of the season on the power play with 1:15 to go in the second.

The two teams combined to fire 35 shots on net in the second with Moose Jaw outshooting Saskatoon, 19-16.  The third period was all Saskatoon however as they fired 18 shots on Warriors goalie Brody Willms and fought their way back.

Hebig said it was disappointing to come out on the losing end after pushing so hard to tie the game.

“We got to take the positive from that and we had a good third period to come back strong, but early on, letting their top players wheel-and-deal like that, it’s hard to win games like that,” said Hebig.

This was the third meeting in the past seven days between the two teams and they played at a high pace with physical play at both ends of the ice.

Coming out of the game, Halbgewachs said they need to make sure that they stay focused at both ends throughout a game.

“We should never give up six goals against any team, so we’re pretty disappointed in that, but again, we found out a way to pull out the win in the end and we’ve just got to play more solid now,” said Halbgewachs, who had two goals and three points in the win.

Almeida added a goal and three points for the Warriors, while captain Brett Howden registered one assist in his first game back in the lineup after missing six games due to an upper body injury.

Moose Jaw outshot Saskatoon 46-39 overall in the game and were 3-for-5 on the power play. They went 2-for-3 on the penalty kill with a shorthanded goal.

After playing five games in the last seven days, the Warriors will now get a couple of days off to rest up before hosting the Prince Albert Raiders on Saturday night at Mosaic Place. 

Tickets are available online at www.mjwarriors.ca or visit the Mosaic Place Box Office.  Catch all the action on Country 100 starting with the Westrum Lumber Timber Mart Pre-Game Show at 6:40 p.m.