EDMONTON, Alta. – All of the hockey IQ, gumption, grit and mental fortitude necessary to deal with defending the wild, fast-paced offensive attack of the U SPORTS No. 2-ranked Saskatchewan Huskies eventually took its toll on the Griffins.

Tied 1-1 with the hottest team in the Canada West men's hockey ranks, they were a shot away from ending the Huskies' eight-game winning streak.

That is until the middle stretch of the third period when the visitors brought everything but the kitchen sink into play, relentless in a pursuit that led to two third-period goals in a 3-1 Huskies victory.

MacEwan goaltender Brett Epp stopped 40 of 43 shots – many of those high danger as he stared down breakaways, odd-man rushes and relentless pressure without blinking.

It's the Huskies' tenth win in a row as they improved to 19-4-0, remaining even with Alberta – 5-0 winners over Trinity Western – atop the East Division standings, but with two games in hand.

MacEwan drops to 9-12-2 and are now only six points ahead of Manitoba for the final playoff spot in the East Division after the Bisons blanked the Regina Cougars 3-0.

Their magic number to clinch remains three with five games left for both them and the Bisons.

Boasting the best powerplay Canada West has seen in its modern era – clicking at 34.0% entering the contest – Saskatchewan stayed on track to keep that percentage by converting on their third man advantage to open the scoring with 4:31 left in the opening period.

Trevor Wong flung a cross-seam pass to Dawson Holt, who just threw it into a mess of bodies in front of Epp. The right bounce landed on Chantz Petruic's stick and he made no mistake.

Despite being outshot 14-5 in the first period, the Griffins stuck with it and tied the game just 28 seconds into the second period when Logan Dowhaniuk simply threw a puck on net from the left corner and his sharp-angle shot eluded Huskies netminder Roddy Ross, who was down in his RVH.

To be fair, that's the only goal that beat Ross on the evening, as he finished with 20 saves and looked sharper as the contest went on. However, he was also bailed out by a quick whistle with 1:49 left in the second period after he stopped Vincent Scott's breakaway, but the puck was never covered before Ethan Sundar's second whack knocked it into the net. Unfortunately for the Griffins, it came a half second after the whistle sounded.

It was the second major break in the game for the Huskies after Josh Pillar – in an effort to avoid running over Epp on a reckless charge at the net midway through the second – left his feet and clipped the Griffins goaltender in the head.

In a lucky break, he was only assessed a two-minute goaltender interference penalty. Epp laid on the ice for a bit but eventually shook it off.

In the third, though, the Huskies made their own breaks and bounces, hemming the Griffins in their own zone for large swaths of time.

Yes, they had a lot of blocked shots and more saves from Epp, but eventually Saskatchewan prevailed, getting goals by Ty Prefontaine at 6:39 – a one-timer from the high slot – and Ethan Regnier at 15:21 – a one-timer from an impossibly sharp angle off an odd-man rush – to end it.

The teams will meet again on Saturday (5 p.m., Downtown Community Arena, Canada West TV).