Warriors Win Game 4, 5-1

16 year old Justin Paulic made 28 saves and Kenton Miller scored twice as the Moose Jaw Warriors downed Edmonton 5-1 Wednesday in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final.

The tribe came storming out of the gates with a power play goal from Brayden Point at 5:59, Cam Braes made it 2-0 at 14:47, and then with two seconds left in the period Miller scored his first of the night to make it a three goal Warrior lead heading into the intermission.

Miller made it a 4-0 Moose Jaw lead at 6:24 of the second with his second the night, two minutes later Edmonton forward Tyler Maxwell beat Paulic to make it a 4-1 game going into the third.

The Oil Kings used three power plays in the third to turn momentum in their favour, but the Warriors played strong defensively and Paulic made a number of big saves to keep Edmonton off the score sheet.  As the game winded down the tribe added some insurance with a James Henry empty net goal at 17:35.

Miller led the Warriors with a pair of goals; Henry had a goal and three points; Tanner Eberle and Cody Beach had two assists each; Morgan Rielly had one assist; Moose Jaw was 1-for-4 on the power play and 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.

One of the major storylines of the game was the play of Paulic who was making his WHL playoff debut and was suiting up for just his second career game.  He says he played well but had a lot of help from the guys in front of him.  “They made it super easy for me; blocking shots, they tied up sticks in front, and made sure there was no cross ice passes, it was great.”

Moose Jaw put 33 shots onto Edmonton goalie Laurent Brossoit, and for the first time in this series they were able to score more than two goals in a game.  James Henry says their successful attack in the Edmonton zone was the result of executing their game plan.

“There were shots that we got into his pads and scored on the rebound that was important for us to do tonight.  For us to get the first goal was pretty big, it put some doubt into their mind and we kept our foot on the gas pedal.”

The loss by Edmonton snaps their 11 game playoff winning streak, as well as breaks their 22 game winning streak going back to the regular season.  The Oil Kings however still lead the series 3-1 skating back to Rexall Place for Game 5 Friday night.

Warriors Assistant Coach Trevor Weisgerber says the Wednesday win gives them confidence heading into the weekend and gives them a window of opportunity.  “Any time that you’re down 3-0 (in a series) and now we have some life and we’re just going to take each game as it comes. On Friday we just want to win one more, our backs are against the wall we don’t have any pressure, we just want to go out and give it a good effort and try and win one more game.”