The Moose Jaw Warriors were happy to register another comeback win Friday, regardless of where it happened.
Mind you, the fact that their 3-2 win over the Prince Albert Raiders was their first road win of the season wasn’t lost on them.
“It’s a character-builder,” said Warriors head coach Mike Stothers. “We were in an unfamiliar situation to win on the road and I thought the guys did really well to get the job done.
“It’s good, but it’s only one. We came here with the mindset to get two on the road.”
The teams will meet again Saturday in a rematch in Prince Albert. A win would see the Warriors (7-5-1-1) move into a tie with the Raiders (8-4-0-2) for first place in the East Division.
After being embarrassed 9-0 in Moose Jaw nearly two weeks ago, the Raiders came out strong and wasted no time getting on the board.
Mark McNeill scored his sixth goal of the season 2:56 into the game as the Raiders out-shot the Warriors by an 8-1 margin to open the game.
Dakota Conroy’s power play goal doubled the Raiders advantage before the end of the first period.
“They had a little bit of revenge in mind after the last outing in our building,” said Stothers. “They came out extremely hard and extremely fast. You kind of expect that coming into this rink anyway. You try to weather the first 10 minutes and we did so.
“As the game went on we were better and stronger. I was pretty proud of the guys: they stuck with it and they battled hard and were finally rewarded.”
Brayden Point scored twice on the power play in the second period to tie the game before Sam Fioretti’s 12th of the season gave the Warriors the lead with 6:49 remaining.
Justin Kirsch picked up three assists as he was reunited with Point and Fioretti on the top line by the end of the game.
Morgan Rielly also chipped in with a pair of assists.
With their net empty, the Raiders created a number of scoring chances in the waning moments. Raiders defenceman Josh Morrissey hit the post with a point shot and the Raiders failed to bury the rebound in the scramble.
Justin Paulic finished with 34 saves.
The Raiders gave the start to Andy Desautels and he made 29 saves.
