Early efficiency was the case yet again for the Home Hardware Midget AAA Legionnaires, as they stormed out of the gate for another strong start this afternoon.

Coming off a Friday night game against the Notre Dame Argos that saw Swift score six times in the opening frame, the Legionnaires posted another three-goal first period on the road against the Saskatoon Contacts today.

The effort resulted in a 7-4 victory for the Legionnaires, who continue what's been a prominent start to the 2018-19 campaign.

Swift's 3-0 first-period lead came while out-shooting the Contacts 24-8.

The Legionnaires used a powerplay goal from Hendrik DeKlerk, an even-strength from Mason Strutt, and yet another man-advantage goal - this time from Joe Arntsen to take the early lead.

Swift has now scored a combined 11 goals in the first period of their last three games - success that hasn't necessarily come from too different of a plan of attack.

"We haven't changed a whole bunch about our preparation, we've just come out of the gates really good the last few games," said Legionnaires head coach Darren Evjen. "It was no different today, we came out and it was just everything - we were dialed in, really moving the puck well, and just controlled the game the first 20 minutes. We were rewarded with three goals - it was good."

However, the next 20 minutes weren't necessarily the sharpest, as the Legionnaires left the door open for the Contacts to make things interesting.

Saskatoon cut the lead to two goals under four minutes in the middle frame courtesy of Riley Girod, as both teams traded goals throughout the period.

Boston Bird responded four minutes later for Swift, but the Contacts answered 24 seconds after on a shot from Luke Dyer.

Strutt buried his second of the game with under six to play in the second, before the Contacts' Josh Paulhus put home two straight to close the period, cutting the Legionnaires' lead to 5-4 through 40.

"What happened was we just fell away from all of our details in our game - it really allowed them to get back in the game," Evjen admitted. "They created, and we just weren't diving in to play the game we played in the first. We really struggled through the second period, and then we went into the third period and we collected ourselves, and had a really good, strong third again."

Swift Current tightened up in the defensive zone in the remaining frame, holding the Contacts off the board.

Meanwhile, Strutt rounded out his hat-trick with a short-handed goal six-and-a-half into the third to make it 6-4.

That score held until the Contacts pulled their goalie, with Reed Jacobson putting home the empty-netter for the win.

Jacob Herman and Ethan Hein each logged time between the pipes for Swift.

Herman allowed four goals on 22 shots through two periods, while Hein anchored the final frame, stopping all 14 shots.

On the offensive end, Strutt added an assist to go along with the trio of goals for a game-high four points.

Jacobson added two helpers for his second-straight night with that stat line, as both he and Strutt have six-point weekends so far.

The Legionnaires have also now won six straight, and eight out of their last nine to stay among the top teams in the standings.

Their lone loss in that stretch came courtesy of the Saskatoon Blazers, the team Swift Current wraps up their three-in-three weekend against.

Puck drop between the Legionnaires (16-5-0-0) and Blazers (19-5-0-1) is set for 5 p.m. on Sunday at Rod Hamm Memorial Arena.