The Moose Jaw Warriors faced the OHL Champion London Knights on Monday night at the Dow Event Center in Saginaw, Michigan, for their second game of the 2024 Memorial Cup.
Moose Jaw scored first, tailed 5-2 in the second period, and was able to get a late goal with an extra attacker but fell short by a score of 5-4.
Following a similar 5-4 loss against the hosts Saginaw Spirit on Friday, the Warriors wanted to come out with a better start, and they accomplished their goal.
Jagger Firkus, a signed prospect of the Seattle Kraken, had a breakaway on London’s starting goalie, Michael Simpson, but was denied.
A few shifts later, Warriors captain Denton Mateychuk activated from his defensive position and sniped a shot off the post and in.
“Certainly, we were looking for a better start, and we got that,” Moose Jaw’s head coach Mark O’Leary said. “Not just results-wise, but when we talk about a good start it is getting to our game in a hurry and playing with that energy and enthusiasm and structure without the puck. I thought we did that. Individually, I thought we had some guys that really stepped up tonight and had great games.”
The two teams played a mostly clean opening 20 minutes with each only having an abbreviated power play. Ethan Semeniuk picked up a roughing penalty after the whistle, but 30 seconds later Kasper Halttunen clipped Matthew Savoie in the head bringing an early end to the Knights power play.
With most of the play happening at the opposite end of 18-year-old netminder Jackson Unger, the puck was dumped in by London. Jacob Julien forced a quick turnover and spotted Ruslan Gazizov at the right of Unger’s net for a quick one-timer to tie the game.
“To start the game, you are going to finish your check, and the purpose of finishing your checks is to separate the guy from the puck and win the puck battle from that. You just have to get the right angles, finish your check, and hopefully, you get a turnover. That is what creates a lot of the goals,” Knights head coach Dale Hunter said.
London’s cycle game pinned Moose Jaw in its defensive zone, and two Philadelphia Flyers prospects, Denver Barkey and Oliver Bonk, combined to set up Sam Dickinson at the top of the circles. A top prospect for the 2024 NHL Entry Draft, Dickinson went high glove on Unger for a 2-1 Knights lead.
London outshot Moose Jaw 12-9 at the end of the first period.
The Warriors started to turn the tide in the second period and tied the game on a goal from Ethan Semeniuk after a shot from the left dot created a rebound.
However, London regained the lead just over two minutes later. The Warriors appeared to be in a good position defensively before Sam O’Reilly deked around a defender and beat Unger low.
Knights center Easton Cowan committed an interference penalty, giving Moose Jaw a chance to tie the game. They moved the puck well around the perimeter but were unable to solve Simpson. As the power play was winding down, the puck got out of the zone for a 2-on-1 rush led by Sam O’Reilly. Already with a goal to his name on Monday, he passed it across to St. Louis Blues prospect Landon Sim for a 4-2 lead just two seconds after the penalty expired.
At the end of the night, Moose Jaw’s power play went 0-for-4.
“I don’t think it was great tonight,” Firkus said of his team’s play while on the man advantage. “We created looks, but at the same time, we have to get them in the back of the net. I think special teams is what hurt us as well tonight; giving up a shorthanded one and not scoring on our power play was the difference.”
O’Leary wanted more from the power play as well. “I think with the players that we have there and the success they’ve had all season long, I know there is more there; they know there is more there. I just thought there was a couple of times we were slow to loose pucks. Again, we talked about last game; we were one and done in the offensive zone. We just had one guy all by himself. When we are at our best on the power play, we surround pucks and are able to make those skilled plays. I just that that we got away from that (on Monday).
London’s third-straight goal came after a Rilen Kovacevic tripping penalty at the defensive blue line. The Knights power play zipped the puck around, and eventually, Cowan put it in a spot for San Jose Sharks selection Kasper Halttunen to unleash a one-timer high to the blocker.
As they’ve done all playoffs long, the Warriors responded right away. Only six seconds after allowing the 5th goal of the night, Semeniuk collected the puck off a faceoff win from Kovacevic. The 2005-born forward took a wrist shot from just outside the blue line, which caught Simpson out of position. Moose Jaw was right back within two goals.
“You talk about punching back; that is the way to do it. You can call it a good bounce or whatever you want to call it, but it was still a great answer. Ethan (Semeniuk) had a great game and was one of the guys that I thought was exceptional tonight. Not just his goals, just thought he checked hard and skated well,” O’Leary said.
After a mostly quiet third period, and his team still trailing by a pair of goals, O’Leary pulled Unger for an extra attacker following a London timeout with 4:36 left on the clock.
Firkus worked himself free from behind the goal line, and put a puck to the blue paint in front of Simpson. Overage forward Martin Rysavy was able to get enough of a piece of the loose puck to get it over the line with 3:55 to play.
Unger returned to his net until there were 78 seconds remaining. Moose Jaw wasn’t able to find the late equalizer and dropped to 0-2 in the short tournament.
“Having the players that we do, their instincts, their skill, to make those plays in big moments, those things all go hand in hand, and you’re able to capitalize,” O’Leary said of getting the first goal in the 6-on-5 situation, but needed a little bit better of a finish to get the second. “Two straight games where we needed another one. You go back to the Saginaw game, (Matthew) Savioe in the slot and Firkus in the slot. Those are two guys that you want with the puck in those areas. We are generating the looks. (Last night), we had some looks with those guys, we just weren’t able to capitalize. Your job in those situations is to get those looks, then, to get it over the top you just need to be ready to capitalize.”
Now, the Warriors face a must-win game tonight against the QMJHL champions from Drummondville. The winner will move on to play in the semifinal on Friday night against the loser of the Saginaw and London game on Wednesday.
