Tanner Eberle had the lone Warriors goal in their 4-1 loss to the Americans on Wednesday night.

The Moose Jaw Warriors have had no luck against the Tri-City Amercian over the last decade and it continued on Wednesday night.

The tribe dropped their fifth straight contest in a 4-1 loss to the Americans at the Toyota Center in Kennewick, Washington.  The Warriors have now been outscored 14-1 in their last three games against the Americans and have dropped seven straight meetings between the two teams.

A goal from Tanner Eberle midway through the third period was the only damage that the tribe was able to do on Tri-City goalie Eric Comrie as he made 29 saves on his way to the win.

A slow start and turnovers ended up costing the Warriors in the loss as the Americans did a good job of capitalizing on their chances, scoring twice in the first period despite getting just seven shots.

“You saw on the goals there, they were blatant turnovers in times when you just need to get the puck in behind their D,” said Mark O'Leary, Warriors assistant coach, on the Country 100 Post-Game Show.  “We wanted to put pucks just behind their d and have a support guy picking it up, but we tried to do a little too much at their blue line and five seconds later it's in the back of our net.”

For the second straight game, the Warriors found themselves trailing early in the game as Phillip Tot scored his 15th of the season for the Americans just 4:17 into the first period.  They continued to add to that lead later in the frame on a goal from Beay McCue.

“That was something that we talked before after the last two starts, we wanted to change that,” said O'Leary.  “You get behind the eight-ball with a quick goal against and again we weren't able to rebound.”

The two teams were battling well into the second period as the tribe played a strong physical game, but they couldn't convert that into offence against the Americans.

The Warriors would have their chances throughout the night, including a few close opportunities in the third, but they were unable to break through on Comrie until late in the third period.

“In the second period we were a totally different team,” said O'Leary.  “The first period was all them that's for sure, but I thought the second and the third period, we were the better team.”

Tri-City made it a 3-0 lead in the first half of the second period when Braden Purtill scored 6:10 into the middle frame.  McCue added his second of the night in the third period to close out the win.

The Warriors veterans didn't have a good night with Sam Fioretti and Alexey Sleptsov finishing minus-three, while Jesse Forsberg, Jack Rodewald, Brayden Point and Eberle were minus-two.

“I thought our younger players for the most part were our best players tonight,” stated O'Leary.  “Josh (Uhrich) was physical, I thought (Colton) McCarthy was really good, taking the puck to the net on a couple of occasions, and (Tyler Brown) I thought this might have been one of his better games, he was a bright spot.”

Justin Paulic made 21 saves in the Warriors net, while Dallas Valentine and Miles Warkentine both picked up assists on Eberle's third period marker.

Special teams were strong for the Warriors in the game, but not busy.  Moose Jaw went 1-for-2 on the power play and 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.

The Warriors will play their final game in the US Division on Friday when they visit WHL leading scorer Mitch Holmberg and the Spokane Chiefs.  The six-game, ten-day road trip will wrap up on Saturday in Cranbrook when the Warriors take on the Kootenay Ice.