Canes Drop 8th Straight, Losing 5-2 in Moose Jaw

MOOSE JAW, SK. - The Moose Jaw Warriors scored once even-strength, once shorthanded, and once on the power play, all in the first period as the beat the Lethbridge Hurricanes 5-2 Friday night.

The Warriors opened  the scoring in this game. Just 3:20 into the first period, Jack Rodewald was fed the puck at the side of the Lethbridge goal and he beat Teagan Sacher on the shortside to put Moose Jaw ahead 1-0. The Warriors kept it coming with a pair of special teams goal before the end of the period. While the Hurricanes were on the power play, they coughed up the puck up, the Warriors moved down the ice shorthanded and Sam Fioretti scored to give the home team a 2-0 lead. In the final minute the Canes took a slashing penalty with just 3.7 seconds left on the clock defenceman Alexey Sleptsov hammered a point shot giving Moose Jaw a comfortable 3-0 lead after 20 minutes play. The Hurricanes were out shot 12-7.

In the second, the Hurricanes got on the board when former Warrior Tyler Bell floated a point shot from the blue line. That beat goalie Justin Paulic to cut the Moose Jaw lead to 3-1. The Canes continued to claw their way back into the game. Just past the midway point in the period, Taylor Cooper moved in on a two-on-one rush with Giorgio Estephan and Copper snapped a shot over the goaltender to get the Hurricanes to within one goal. That was Cooper's 12th goal of the season and it cut the Warriors lead to 3-2 after 40 minutes. Moose Jaw held a slight 20-16 edge in shots on goal.

In the third, the Canes would push hard to try and get the tying the goal, but Moose Jaw would hold them off the score sheet. The Warriors added some insurance when Miles Warkentine snapped a shot over Sacher to make it 4-2 Moose Jaw and then in the final minute of the the game, Colton McCarthy put a shot off a Lethbridge defender and in to make it a 5-2 final. Lethbridge was out shot 32-26 in this game. Moose Jaw went 1/7 on the power play and the Hurricanes 0/6. That actually turned out to be the difference in this game. The Canes have lost 8 straight games and see their record drop to 12-49-2-3 in 66 games this season.

Next Up

The Hurricanes close out a very busy week of five games in 8 days when they take on the Broncos in Swift Current Saturday (March 1). This will be the third of four meetings between the clubs this season. Swift Current will make the return trip to Lethbridge next Saturday (March 8) for the final match-up between the teams this season.  The Canes are down to their last six games, 3 away and 3 at home.  Their next home game is Friday (March 7) when they host the visiting Regina Pats.

Thanks,

Pat