REGINA -- The Moose Jaw Warriors suddenly find themselves playing some of their best hockey of the season, and that turned into a commanding win over the Regina Pats on Saturday night in Regina.
The Warriors had seven different goal scorers and gave the Pats little room to find momentum on their way to a 7-1 victory in Western Hockey League action.
Moose Jaw improved to 14-42-5-2 with their third-straight victory and have closed to within three points of the 10th place Pats in the Eastern Conference. Regina lost their sixth straight and are now 15-38-5-3 on the campaign.
The Warriors naturally hoped to get off to a good start in the second game of the home-and-home, but not even they could have expected how things turned out in the early going.
Dominik Pavlik opened scoring at the 3:47 mark, finishing off a three-way passing play with Krzysztof Macias and Owen Berge on the rush for his first WHL goal.
Less than two minutes later, Aiden Ziprick scored his 12th of the year to make it 2-0, with the power play marker coming with 5:29 gone in the period.
At the time of the Warriors’ second goal, Regina had yet to get a shot on net, and late in the first period, Moose Jaw would be outshooting the Pats 7-1 before a late flurry saw the shots 9-6 after the first.
Regina’s Zach Moore appeared to have gotten one back late in the period when he tipped in a shot from the point, but video review showed that it had been knocked in with a high stick.
Moore got one that counted on Regina’s first power play of the game early in the second, knocking in a rebound off the boards after a shot by Julien Maze with 3:13 gone.
Connor Schmidt would get that one back 7:57 into the second, unloading a one-timer from the blueline on a feed from Luke Moroz that found its way through traffic and into the Regina net.
That marked the end of the night for Pats goaltender Kelton Pyne, who was replaced by Ewan Huet after allowing three goals on 12 shots.
Landen McFadden then made it a 4-1 game 2:09 after Schmidt’s goal, and it was a nice one, as he dipsy doodled around a Regina defender and went in on his wing before beating Huet with a shot top shelf glove side. The goal was McFadden’s sixth of the season, with five of those coming against the Pats.
The Warriors’ power play got in on the action for their fifth goal, with Pavel McKenzie sending a pass to the side of the net for Lynden Lakovic, and the Moose Jaw captain would snap a quick shot home for his 23rd of the season with 3:06 to play in the second.
Noah Degenstein then extended the lead to five with 7:30 remaining in the game, breaking into the Regina zone and ripping a shot that went off the post and rang around the inside of the net before coming right back out. Play continued, but off-ice officials buzzed down and credited Degenstein with the marker.
Only 1:30 later, Nolan Paquette made it 7-1, taking a pass from McKenzie and putting a shot from the slot top shelf blocker side.
That goal would close out scoring, and the Warriors had their impressive win.
McKenzie finished with three assists on the night, while Moroz, Macias and Ziprick had two assists apiece.
Matthew Hutchison finished with 21 saves in the Warriors net, Huet stopped eight in his 32:03 of work.
The victory gives the Warriors a 5-0-2-0 victory in the season series.
Moose Jaw is back in action Tuesday when they host the Red Deer Rebels, with puck drop at 7 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
Regina is also on the ice Tuesday when they host the Saskatoon Blades. Game time is 7 p.m. at the Brandt Centre/
