The drive for five is alive for the Moose Jaw WINMAR AAA Warriors, as they were able to edge out their TransCanada rivals the Swift Current Legionnaires 3-2 on Wednesday.

The win extended their win streak to four games and are playing some of their best hockey of the season, at the right time, as they are fighting for their playoff lives.

Moose Jaw was able to get their record back to even with the win and is sitting with a 15-15-0-4 record and continue to hold down the 7th spot in the league standings with now 34 points. They are seven points behind the Warman Wildcats for sixth place.

Jake Briltz had the game-winner in the third period for his 12th goal of the season, as he got his own rebound off the board and tucked it in past Legionnaires starter Berney Weston.

Moose Jaw’s defensive structure along with some timely goals led them to a fourth-straight win.

“We played really well,” says head coach, Trevor Weisgerber. “The guys have really bought in here, especially after Christmas. Swift Current has a great hockey team. From the drop of the puck until the end we had everyone on board.”

“It was the little things like our forwards working hard to come back, our defense keeping guys to the outside and being above pucks. The results are there because of those things and we’re playing so much better hockey,” adds Weisgerber.

Weisgerber did get the start that he wanted from his team on Wednesday night. They peppered Weston off the opening faceoff and got four quality scoring chances within the first minute of the game. At one point the Warriors led 10-1 on the shot clock not even six minutes in the contest.

For the fifth game in a row, the Warriors would open the scoring. It would be Connor Miller picking up his third straight opening goal, as he was able to pounce on a rebound and bury it past Weston for his 19th of the season, and seventh in his last eight games.

“We came out of our zone and the pass was wide to me and was coming down the wall, then threw a blind pass across the ice and put it right on [Bryce] Boughen’s stick,” says Miller. “He walked right downtown and [Berney] Weston made a good save, and he was over-committed, and it was an easy tap-in.”

Jake Briltz and Boughen would pick up the assists on the goal.

The momentum would shift into Swift Current’s favour halfway through the first period. Austin Woodley would be ejected from the game after he got called for boarding, giving the Legionnaires a five-minute powerplay.

That would prove to be costly, as the Cobe Perlinger one-timed it past Bain after a nice pass from Hudson Darby to tie the game 1-1.

Moose Jaw would limit the Legionnaires to only the one powerplay goal and killed off the rest of the penalty.

The first period would end deadlocked at 1-1. After 20 minutes it was Moose Jaw leading in shots 13-9.

Heading into the second period, Moose Jaw came out firing once again, but couldn’t sneak out past Weston.

That all changed with just under six minutes left in the period. Moose Jaw would capitalize on their third powerplay of the game. Liam Fitzpatrick would get the puck from Ryder Knutson and fire it under the glove of Weston to take the lead 2-1.

That goal extended Fitzpatrick’s point streak to 10 games, with now 20 points in that span.

Fitzpatrick’s goal would be all the scoring done in the period, as the Warriors led 2-1 after 40 minutes.

They also led in the shots after two periods 25-12.

The third period was much of the same for the Warriors, as their intensity paid off early in the frame.

Jake Briltz would get a pass from Rhett Perrin and his initial shot went wide, but he got his own rebound off the end boards and was able to sneak it past Weston for the 3-1 lead.

Swift Current did not go away though. They were able to cut the lead to 3-2 with 56 seconds left after Hudson Darby wrapped the puck around the net and somehow snuck it past Bain on the powerplay to keep his team in the game.

That’s as close as they would get, as the Warriors would hold on for the 3-2 win.

Ryan Bain had another solid showing in net making 23 saves for his fourth straight win and ninth of the season.

His counterpart Weston made 33 saves for only his fifth loss of the season.

Moose Jaw finished 1-for-4 on the powerplay while going 4-for-6 on the penalty kill.

Briltz led the team in points on Wednesday night finishing with a goal and an assist.

The next test for the Warriors is the Tisdale Trojans whom they will face on Saturday afternoon for the season finale.

Weisgerber says they are not a team to take lightly.

“They work and are very opportunistic and have some good hockey players up there. We have had trouble with some breakdowns that we have given up goals against them. If we keep playing the way that we are, I think we have a good chance to win every night.”

The puck drop for Saturday’s tilt will be at 1:30 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.

Then on Sunday, the Warriors will face off against the Warman Wildcats at 1:30 p.m. for the fourth and final time this season.