The Moose Jaw Warriors opened the second half with a dud on Tuesday night in Swift Current as they lost 6-1 to the Broncos at the Credit Union Iplex.

18-year-old Tyler Steenbergen led the charge for the Broncos potting a hat trick and finishing with four points, while import forward Aleksi Heponiemi finished with a goal and three points.

It was a four-minute stretch in the first period that ended up being too much for the Warriors to overcome as the Broncos opened up a 3-0 lead and never looked back.

The Warriors came flying out of the gates after the opening puck drop, putting a ton of pressure on the Broncos in the opening minutes, but it didn’t result in a goal.

That came back to bite the Warriors as Swift Current capitalized first with captain Glenn Gawdin bursting into the Moose Jaw zone after a chip through the neutral zone and beating goalie Zach Sawchenko to open the scoring.

The Broncos rode the momentum from that goal and were able to pin the Warriors in the defensive zone, eventually leading to Aleksi Heponiemi banging in a rebound to make it 2-0 for Swift Current.

Tyler Steenbergen extended that lead to three goals just over two minutes later when he roofed a wrist shot over Sawchenko for his 23rd of the season.

The Warriors had some more quality chances late in the first, but again couldn’t finish and went into the break down 3-0.

Moose Jaw couldn’t find their spark in the second period as they continued to struggle with putting together a consistent attack.

Penalty trouble got the Warriors just past the midway point as they gave the Broncos a 5-on-3 power play and Steenbergen jumped on a rebound in front of the net for his second of the game to make it 4-0 for the Broncos going into the third.

Steenbergen would finish off his natural hat trick early in the third period to put the Broncos in front five goals.

The Warriors cut into that lead late in the game when captain Brett Howden extended his point streak to 11 games with his 16th of the season on a bullet from the top of the slot that allowed Moose Jaw to avoid being shutout for the first time this season.

The Broncos came right back and Lane Pederson pounced on a rebound at the side of the net just 30 seconds after Howden’s goal to make it a 6-1 final.

Sawchenko was peppered in the Warriors’ goal, making 35 saves on 40 shots before being pulled after Steenbergen’s third goal.  Taz Burman turned away 28 shots in the win.

The Warriors didn’t receive a power play opportunity in the loss, while they went 3-for-4 on the penalty.

These two teams will meet in a rematch on Wednesday night at Mosaic Place at 7 p.m.  The Pre-Game Show is on the air at 6:40 p.m. on Country 100.