The Moose Jaw Warriors charged late to make it close but they couldn't fight their way back from an early deficit and lost 4-3 to the Prince Albert Raiders Monday at the Art Hauser Centre.

The game was fast and physical in the opening moments of the period, as they tried to establish a consistent attack.

Prince Albert picked up the game's first goal just past the midway point when Ozzy Wiesblatt knocked in a loose puck inside the Moose Jaw crease.

The Raiders took a 2-0 with five minutes remaining in the period on a goal from Noah Gregor and they extended their lead to 3-0 with a power-play goal from Sean Montgomery with two minutes left in the frame.

Moose Jaw was outshot 20-6 in the opening period and they gave Prince Albert four power plays.

Four minutes into the second period the Raiders picked up another goal from Noah Gregor to go up 4-0.

Moose Jaw tried to push back in the middle frame, they outshot the Raiders, 12-9, in the period but couldn't snap the puck over the goal line.

The Warriors finally got on the scoreboard eight and a half minutes into the third period when Daemon Hunt led a rush up the ice and moved the puck up to Brayden Tracey on the left side of the neutral zone, Tracey came inside the Raiders zone and drove towards the net, instead of shooting, he tossed it over to Tristin Langan on the right wing where he scored his team-leading 41st.

Moose Jaw made it a two-goal game with 90 seconds left in regulation, working on the power play, they were able to set up Brayden Tracey in-between the circles where he scored his 26th goal.

The Warriors went back on the power-play shortly after and in the final seconds got another goal from Tracey to pull to within one.

Moose Jaw then looked to push to the net in the final moments of the game but the final buzzer went and ended their hopes of a comeback.

Tracey led the Warriors with two goals and three points in the loss, while Adam Evanoff got the start and allowed three goals on 20 shots in the first period. Brodan Salmond finished the game, allowing one goal on 21 shots.

Moose Jaw was 2-for-5 on the power play and 5-for-6 on the penalty kill.

The Warriors return to action next weekend when they have three games in three days. The hectic schedule starts on Friday in Swift Current; then Saturday, they're back at Mosaic Place to take on the Regina Pats at 2:30 p.m; the weekend wraps up Sunday at home against Kootenay at 4 p.m.