BRONCOS PUSH WARRIORS TO THE BRINK

Lane Pederson scored a pair of goals and Jordan Papirny slammed the door shut, saving 34 shots as the Swift Current Broncos took Game 5 of their Round One set against the Moose Jaw Warriors by a 2-1 edge on Friday night at Mosaic Place.

The Broncos can close out the series with a home win Saturday night in Game 6.

The first period Friday night indicated that both clubs wanted to get that first goal as they combined for 24 shots on goal with the Broncos getting 15 of those on net.

The level of physicality was also demonstrated between these East Division rivals. Moose Jaw's Brett Howden and Swift Current's Arthur Miller each gathered a pair of minor penalties in the first period but both clubs went scoreless on the power play.

Early in the second period, Broncos rookie forward Riley Stotts put the puck on his stick, raced down the left wing and executed a cross-ice pass to perfection right on the tape of Pederson's stick to set up the first Broncos goal.

At the 14:03 mark of the middle period, Ryley Lindgren gathered the puck deep in Warriors territory and made a centering pass to a streaking Pederson who one-timed a hard snap shot by Warriors goaltender Zach Sawchenko. The Broncos increased their lead to 2-0 with Kole Gable registering the other assist on the goal to go along with Lindgren.

Brett Howden got Moose Jaw on the board via a deflection off an initial point shot from Warriors defenceman Matt Sozanki. The Broncos led 2-1 through two periods of play.

Swift Current killed off a critical Glenn Gawdin interference penalty minutes into the third period to maintain their one goal margin. Despite only recording one shot on goal in the third period, the Broncos’ Papirny was sound in backstopping 10 Warriors shots to ultimately propel the Broncos to a huge 2-1 victory in Game 5. Papirny earned his 36th career postseason win with a 34 save performance.

Shots on goal were 35-22 in favour of Moose Jaw in the contest. The Broncos went 0/3 on the power play while the Warriors scored once on six man advantages.

(Courtesy Brad Trojan/SCBroncos.com)

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