Needing a win after dropping game one on home ice, the Moose Jaw Warriors responded on Saturday night.

Justin Almeida scored 7:30 into the first overtime period to lift the Warriors to a 3-2 win over the Prince Albert Raiders at Mosaic Place in game two of their first round WHL playoff series.

The series will also now shift to the Art Hauser Centre for games three and four on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“We knew that being the second game and they're up 1-0 that this was a must win,” said Almeida. “We had a 2-0 lead and they came back and we knew (going into overtime) that we had to get the game and split the series.”

Almeida tipped the puck away from Raiders captain Curtis Miske and turned on the jets to break into the Prince Albert zone. He would beat goalie Ian Scott through the five-hole and send Mosaic Place into a frenzy.

“It was awesome, your teammates hug you and you win a game, so it's the biggest thing that our team got the win,” said the 19-year-old forward.

“I just saw a break and I knew that nobody was ahead of me. We had some scouting reports and I just skated as hard as I can because in overtime, every chance counts.”

Warriors captain Brett Howden scored the first two goals for the Warriors to help them jump out to a 2-0 lead.  He said he knew that the team would respond after a tough loss in game one.

“We found our game more tonight, last night we did some good things, but didn't really play like we can,” he said “I don't know if it was nerves or what, but we got them out of us and had a bounce back game.

“We're just trying to do what we can do, control what we can control and just work as hard as we can, sometimes they go in and sometimes they don't and tonight, lucky enough, they went in.”

The Warriors came into the second game of the series looking to find their game after a subpar opening game the night before. They were able to do just that during a back-and-forth first period.

Moose Jaw controlled the early part of the game using their speed that was missing during Friday night's contest, but the Raiders were able to counter as the period went on.

Howden made sure his team went into the first break with the lead when he buried a rebound off a shot from Tanner Jeannot with 1:05 to go in the opening period.

Howden would strike again only 11 seconds into the second period when he snapped a shot past Scott to make it 2-0.

The Raiders started their comeback when Sean Montgomery knocked in a rebound to cut the lead to one heading into the third.  Prince Albert were able to tie the game up at 2-2 just under five minutes when defenceman Vojtech Budik blew a shot past a screened Warriors goalie Brody Willms for a power play goal.

The Warriors continued to pepper the Raiders net in the third period, sending in 12 shots, but couldn't beat Scott. Willms turned away seven shots in the frame as well to send the game to overtime.

The teams combined for nine shots in the extra period with chances at both ends of the ice. The Warriors dodged a bullet when the officials decided not to call a too many men penalty early in the period and moments later Almeida ended the game.

Willms turned away 28 shots for the win in goal, while Scott faced 41 shots from the Warriors in the loss.

Raiders veteran Parker Kelly said they remain confident despite the loss heading back to Prince Albert.

“All the odds were against us this weekend and getting a win here is huge, we needed to steal one on the road, so we're not thinking about the end of this game too much, we're already moved on to Tuesday's game,” he said.

“Tonight was a tough loss, we came out slow, but showed good character to battle our way back, and in overtime, just an unlucky play and it ends up in the back of our net.”

The Warriors and Raiders face off for game three on Tuesday night in Prince Albert. Puck drops at 7 p.m. and the pre-game show is on the air at 6:40 p.m. on Country 100.

Tickets for game five on Saturday back in Moose Jaw will go on sale on Monday morning at 10 a.m. at mjwarriors.ca and the Mosaic Place Box Office.