Five-shot first periods typically don’t set a team up to win hockey games.
   The Lethbridge Hurricanes learned that lesson the hard way — for the fourth consecutive home game — and while they were able to rally within striking distance, it ultimately equalled a 5-3 loss to the Moose Jaw Warriors during Western Hockey League action Wednesday night at the Enmax Centre.
And on a night when former Hurricanes captain Cam Braes marked his first return to Lethbridge since being dealt at the deadline with a pair of power-play assists, getting outshot 19-5 in the first proved costly despite the ’Canes being able to cut the deficit to 4-3 before a Warriors empty-netter sealed the deal.
“It’s a three-period game, right? How many periods are in a game? Three,” said Hurricanes head coach Rich Preston. “That’s four games in a row in the first period. We were brutal. You can’t do that. You can’t wait until there’s urgency and you’re down two goals. First periods are important starts and we haven’t done it for four games.”
The Hurricanes are 21-34-0-1 with 43 points. That leaves them in 11th place in the 12-team Eastern Conference, just four points ahead of the Prince Albert Raiders.
The Warriors were first on the board when Eric Arnold cashed in on a generous rebound off a shot off the right wing from Quinton Howden for a 1-0 lead 9:50 into the game.
Moose Jaw went up 2-0 in the dying seconds of the first one a five-on-three man advantage situation — starting with a goaltender interference penalty to Craig Leverton that drew the ire of the crowd of 3,061 — when Howden took a feed from Braes and sent an in-close shot past Lethbridge netminder Damien Ketlo with 12 seconds left for a 2-0 lead.
“We have to playing 60 minutes if we want to have success,” said Hurricanes captain Brody Sutter. “Five shots in the first period at home isn’t good enough. It’s been like that now for four straight games at home.”
There’s an easy answer, said Preston.
“Yeah, start better, that’s what you can do,” said Preston. “Pretend it’s the third period.”
The Warriors pulled ahead 3-0 29 seconds into the second thanks to Howden, earning Braes his second assist of the night.
The ’Canes used their own man advantage to get on the scoresheet with 7:39 left in the second when Sutter gained the Moose Jaw blue-line and sent a wrist shot past Warriors netminder Luke Siemens to cut Moose Jaw’s lead to 3-1.
Kenton Miller scored to up the Warriors lead to 4-1 before another Sutter goal cut the lead in half at 4-2.
The Hurricanes nearly moved to within a goal with a little over seven minutes to go when Jamal Watson fleeced a Warriors defenceman and broke in on Siemens, but fired just wide past the left post.
The Hurricanes kept coming as Adam Henry hit Nick Buonassisi with an on-the-tape pass, but Siemens was equal to the challenge, coming out and denying the chance.
The ’Canes didn’t miss on their next chance as Sam McKechnie parked himself in front of the Warriors goal and got his stick on a Johnston point shot to cut Moose Jaw’s lead to 4-3 with 2:16 remaining.
The Hurricanes pulled Ketlo with a minute to go, but it was Howden who completed his hat trick bid with an empty-netter with 20 seconds left.
“It was weird playing against the guys,” said Braes. “I know some of their tendencies in practice, but it’s way different in a game. We came in here and got the two points, so that’s the most important thing.”
Getting picked as the second star drew a chuckle from Braes.
“I don’t think I played my best game, but we got the win and the fans were good to me, getting picked a star even though I might not have deserved it,” said Braes with a laugh. “But the ovation was fantastic. I can’t say enough about the fans. They’ve been awesome to me.”