With a sharp-angle shot less than three minutes into overtime on Sunday, Moose Jaw Warriors forward Lyndon Lakovic guaranteed another game in an all-time classic series in the WHL’s Eastern Conference finals.
Lackovich blasted a wrist-shot 2:57 into the first overtime at the Moose Jaw Events Centre, giving the Warriors a 4–3 win over the Saskatoon Blades in Game 6 of their third-round series and avoiding elimination. Force a Game 7 on Tuesday night.
Writing a new chapter in a remarkable series, with five of its six games now decided in extra time.
“It shows you what playoff hockey is all about,” Lackovich said. “Back and forth, this being the fifth game that has gone to overtime, it shows anything can happen. In a game like this you just have to throw it in the net and hope something happens, and it happened tonight.
Moose Jaw completed the comeback by winning their third game in the series, as Saskatoon defenseman Charlie Wright bounced back from a 3–2 deficit in the third period after opening the final frame with a goal on a set-up by Trevor Wong.
Warriors forward Rylan Kovacevic found the equalizing goal on the far side board with 9:04 remaining in regulation, setting the stage for Lackovic’s overtime heroics and sending the series to a deciding Game 7 in Saskatoon.
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“It’s the hockey gods, I think that’s what they want,” Blades head coach Brennan Sonne said.
It took just 38 seconds for Moose Jaw to open the scoring on Sunday, with Braden Schuurman taking an early 1-0 lead by intercepting Kovacevic’s feed for his first shot of the game.
Saskatoon however was able to respond quickly with an Igor Sidorov snipe for his league-leading 15th goal of the post-season just three minutes later, though Moose Jaw was able to close out the first period with Schurman’s second goal of the afternoon from the slot. Was. After 20 minutes make it 2-1.
Moose Jaw’s lead lasted until late in the second period, when Blades forward Rowan Calvert scored on the power play in his hometown goal to tie the score at 2-2 before halftime.
Saskatoon and Moose Jaw then exchanged leads in the third period, which was indicative of how close each game has been between the Saskatchewan rivals according to Lackovich.
“If we played this series 10 times, I bet there would be a different winner every time,” Lackovich said. “We just look at each other and we don’t want it to end, we don’t change much and we just do it for each other.”
Warriors goaltender Jackson Unger earned the win with a 30-save performance on 33 shots in Game 6, while Saskatoon netminder Evan Gardner allowed four goals on 35 shots in the Blades’ crease.
Sunday’s Game 6 matinee now sets up a winner-take-all tilt at SaskTel Centre, with the Warriors defeating the Blades by a slim 21-20 margin through six games.
“If you told me it was going to be 2-2 I would have believed you and you can say the same thing about 3-3,” Warriors head coach Mark O’Leary said. “Both teams played very well with each other in the regular season, I think we bring out the best in each other, it is competitive. “It feels just like the Western Hockey League, it’s just good hockey and why not play seven?”
While Moose Jaw was able to stave off elimination, the Blades will be up against the wall for the first time in the 2024 WHL post-season on Tuesday, with the winner facing the Portland Winterhawks or Prince George Cougars in the WHL Finals. ,
“From my perspective I’m just focused on what we need to do next which is video, what we need to do better and coming out with that level of frustration to start Game 7,” Soane said. “
Saskatoon will have a second chance to advance to their first championship final since 1994 in Game 7, while the Warriors will aim to get back to the fourth round for the first time since 2006.
Asked if it seemed like the Blades and Warriors would need a Game 7 after six games of extremely narrow margins, Wright agreed a game to decide was all likely in the cards. .
“Yeah, honestly, it did,” Wright said. “Obviously we were hoping to end it tonight, but things happen. It felt like it was scheduled to go at seven.”
Saskatoon and Moose Jaw will hit the ice at SaskTel Center on Tuesday night at 7:00 pm for the decisive Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, with tickets going on sale to the public Monday morning.
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