Three Moose Jaw goals in 2:14 were all the Warriors needed to skate to a 3-2 win over the Swift Current Broncos tonight.

“It was a pretty poor start,” said Broncos Associate Coach Ryan Smith. “The second and third were fine. The first period we forgot to start. They turned it pretty quick on us, they jumped on our mistakes and you're down three. That's tough against anybody especially the top team in the league.”



Tanner Jeannot, Jayden Halbgewachs and Luka Burzan scored in quick succession as the Warriors jumped out to a big lead midway through the first period.

“You can't get guys like Halbgewachs and these kinds of guys have free shots in our slot or crease area,” Smith said. “We're trying to wack the puck away instead of moving bodies.”

Swift Current's play in front of their net was a focus after getting in that early hole.

“In the tight area in the front of the net in the crease we weren't really bearing down,” said defenceman Colby Sissons. “That's kind of what we cleaned up the rest of the game we kept them to the outside. Hofer was playing really well for us but we couldn't get one late.”

Rookie Joel Hofer replaced veteran Logan Flodell after the third Warriors goal and stopped all 19 shots he faced.

“He was good,” Smith said. “Hey this is the Western Hockey League. This is what part of his job is. Joel was fine. He has been very good in practices, very good in games and he gave us a chance tonight.”

The Broncos killed off four Warrior power plays in the first period and six in total in the game. They went 2 for 5 on their man advantage and clearly won the special teams battle despite the loss.

A double minor hockey sticking penalty to Jeannot opened the door to Swift Current in the second period.

Tyler Steenbergen struck on the rebound of a Sissons shot to score his league leading 35th of the season and signal the Teddy Bear Toss for almost 2700 fans in Swift Current. That then gave the Broncos a chance to rest up their top guys and come right back out to score another power play goal off the stick of captain Glenn Gawdin.

Steenbergen didn't return after his goal and missed the rest of the hockey game. There is no update yet on what caused his departure from the game or his status.

Once the Broncos closed the gap to 3-2 the Warriors really clamped down defensively and didn't give up much the rest of the way. Aleksi Heponiemi did hit a post on a third period power play, but the Warriors did a good job containing the Swift Current attack otherwise.

“We didn't generate a lot in the third period,” Smith said. “It was kind of a scrambly up and down period. We didn't get many shots. I think we had five in the third period and a lot from the outside. We just didn't do enough tonight.”

Sissons and Heponiemi each had two assists on the night for the Broncos. Heponiemi extended his point streak to 19 games. Gawdin now has nine goals in his last seven games.

Backup Adam Evanoff stopped 28 Swift Current shots to earn the win for Moose Jaw. The top two teams in the WHL's Eastern Conference split and home-and-home this weekend after the Broncos won 7-6 in overtime on Friday.

Thus far the road team has won all four games between the two teams this season.

Next up for the Broncos is a home game against Prince Albert on Tuesday. They then head to Alberta for a three-game road swing on the weekend.