The Moose Jaw Warriors saw their six-game winning streak come to an end on Wednesday night in Saskatoon.

Evan Fiala scored with 1:12 remaining in regulation to lift the Blades past the Warriors, 5-4, at SaskTel Centre in the first meeting of the season between the two East Division rivals.

The Warriors were coming off an emotional win in Swift Current on Tuesday and Assistant Coach Mark O’Leary said the team fell into the Blades’ trap.

“It’s a big rivalry between us and Swift Current and we felt pretty good about our game after last night, we felt we played a real good team game, and coming in here, we were looking for more of the same, but unfortunately we had a real poor start and a hard working Saskatoon team took full advantage,” said O’Leary.

Despite scoring in the opening minute of the game, the Warriors didn’t have the extra jump in their game that they had shown over their six-game winning streak.

O’Leary said they were outworked by the Blades, especially in the second period when Saskatoon out-shot Moose Jaw, 22-8.

“They were out competing us, they wanted the loose pucks more than we did, we stood around and watched them as they skated around us,” said O’Leary. 

After Fiala’s go-ahead goal, Moose Jaw thought that they found the equalizer in the final seconds as Tanner Jeannot poked the puck across the goal line, but the goal was waved off by the official and the Blades would hold on.

Noah Gregor opened the scoring just 57 seconds into the game, but the Blades answered back only 50 seconds later when Alec Zawatsky tied the game up at 1-1.

The Warriors went back in front late in the first on a shorthanded goal from Justin Almeida, his 11th of the season. However, the Blades responded again with Caleb Fantillo scoring just over two minutes later to make it a 2-2 game after one.

Braylon Shmyr and Gage Ramsay would score in the opening 7:45 of the second period to put the Blades in front 4-2, but a late goal from Tanner Jeannot made it a one-goal game heading into the third period.

Moose Jaw found the equalizer when 15-year-old defenceman Daemon Hunt scored his first WHL goal midway through the third.

The Warriors out-shot Saskatoon 18-17 in the third period, but it wasn’t enough with Fiala scoring the eventual winner with just over a minute to go.

Saskatoon out-shot Moose Jaw 51-38 overall in the game, while neither team found success with the man advantage as the Warriors went 0-for-3 and the Blades were 0-for-4.

The loss drops Moose Jaw’s record to 16-5-0-0 on the year.

“You’re going to lose game sometimes, but the way that we lost where it was just effort at times is disappointing,” said O’Leary. “At the same time, we’ll be able to use this as some coachable moments, bring them back down to earth at practice tomorrow and reload for Friday night.”

The Warriors will continue their busy week when they host the Calgary Hitmen on Friday night at Mosaic Place.  Moose Jaw then host Saskatoon for a rematch on Saturday.