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The Moose Jaw Warriors had a spring in their step on Friday night against the Portland Winterhawks.
After beating the Saskatoon Blades in Game 7 of the Western Hockey League’s Eastern Conference final on Tuesday, the Warriors carried their momentum into the WHL final as they beat the Winterhawks 3-2 in Game 1 of the championship series on Friday night.
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Warriors forward Atley Calvert opened the scoring on a penalty shot and assisted on the game-winning goal scored by Matthew Savoie with three minutes left, which gave the Warriors a 1-0 series lead in the best-of-seven final.
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Moose Jaw goalie Jackson Unger stopped 32 of 34 shots in the win while Winterhawks neminder Jan Spunar made 35 saves in the loss.
Warriors defenceman Denton Mateychuk scored Moose Jaw’s other goal while Diego Buttazzoni and Gabe Klassen replied for the Winterhawks, who will look to even the series when the two teams battle in Game 2 on Saturday night in Portland (8 p.m., TSN).
The series will then shift to Moose Jaw for Game 3 on Tuesday night with Game 4 on Wednesday.
The winner of this series will represent the WHL at the Memorial Cup set to be played May 24 to June 2 in Saginaw, Mich.
Game summary
Moose Jaw 3, Portland 2
After a scoreless first period with Moose Jaw outshooting Portland 14-8, the Warriors opened the scoring early in the second period.
Just 1:13 into the middle frame, Savoie made a nifty backhand pass to send Calvert on a breakaway. Calvert broke in all alone and got a backhand away but was hooked from behind resulting in a penalty shot being called.
And the 20-year-old Moose Jaw product made the most of his opportunity as he beat Spunar with a wrist shot for his seventh goal of the playoffs to make it 1-0 Warriors.
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Minutes later, the Warriors added to their lead with the two leading point producers in the WHL playoffs connecting, as Mateychuk took a Jagger Firkus pass and found the back of the net to make it 2-0. For both Mateychuk and Firkus, it was their 28th point of the postseason.
Portland made it a 2-1 game just a few minutes after as Spunar sent a long pass to Buttazonni as the Warriors were making a line change. Buttazonni skated over the blue line and his wrist shot beat Unger to get the Winterhawks on the board.
The back-and-forth action continued as Firkus forced a turnover and sprung himself on a breakaway but couldn’t beat Spunar as the score remained 2-1 through 40 minutes.
The shots in the second period were 11-10 in favour of Moose Jaw.
Just over four minutes into the third, the Winterhawks tied the game as Klassen’s shot squeaked by Unger to make it 2-2.
Then with three minutes to go, after a Winterhawks turnover, Calvert found Savoie in the slot and the Buffalo Sabres first-round draft pick found the back of the net to put the Warriors on top 3-2.
From there, the Winterhawks put the pressure on to tie the game but Unger and the Warriors were up to the task.
Finals history
It’s just the second league final appearance for Moose Jaw in franchise history. Their only other trip came in 2006 when they were swept by the Vancouver Giants.
For Portland, who beat the Prince George Cougars in the WHL Western Conference final, it’s their first appearance in the league final since four straight from 2011 to 2014. The Winterhawks have won the league title three times with their last coming in the 2012-13 season.
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