They ain't done yet. The Flin Flon Bombers staved off elimination in Game 4 Wednesday night, getting the upper hand in a 5-1 win and forcing a Game 5 at home Saturday.
Flin Flon's hopes stayed alive in a must-win game, with the Bombers taking an early lead and never taking their foot off the gas.
The Bombers bucked a trend in the first period by opening the scoring. Keefe Gruener took a breakout pass by Natan Meunier-Roberge, fired from the faceoff dot and caught Angelo Zol napping, beating him high glove. It was the first time the Bombers have led all series - they took that lead 1-0 into the second.
Flin Flon collectively played like a cat in a corner, putting tons of shots on Zol early. That trend would slow in the second, with the Bombers focusing more on quality instead of quantity. That idea paid off, with the Bombers buzzing the puck around the Wings' zone, Cole Tanchuk finding Carter Cormier and the Kindersley native beating Zol clean with a quick snapper. Less than four minutes into the period, Flin Flon was up by two.
That lead would grow even more, with Eric Han squeezing a wide-open wrister through Zol's five-hole to get his first-ever junior goal. Han, a 17-year-old AAA callup, got his second point in three Bomber playoff games as Flin Flon made it 3-0.
The game had few moments of rough stuff early on, with no penalties called at all for the entire first half of the game. Meunier-Roberge and Cyprus Smith-Davis got tangled up after the whistle by the Bomber net and Smith-Davis fell down awkwardly, staying down on the ice clutching his knee, needing help to reach the dressing room. Both players got penalties, with Matty Edwards serving the call for Smith-Davis.
With the players in the box, Weyburn broke Matt Kieper's shutout. Ethan DeKay ruined the Winnipegger's party with a long wrist shot through traffic that hit a Bomber defender and caromed into the Bomber net. Flin Flon may have surrendered their first goal, but they would not give up.
The Bombers held off a surging Red Wing attack, but Flin Flon hung around long enough to extend their lead even more. A Pierce Yakimchuk point shot was deflected in front by Anthony Piccininno and in, then Ryder Ringor kept his point streak alive by forcing a Wing to cough up the puck, burning into the zone and beating Zol off a partial break.
Kieper did his part, keeping the puck out for the rest of the night. In the final moments of the game, perhaps spurred on by their time in the box earlier, Meunier-Roberge and Edwards dropped the mitts. Edwards got Meunier-Roberge down to a knee, but the Bomber D man came back up, with both exchanging shots. Edwards' fifth fight this season and Meunier-Roberge's second ended pretty equally - both players were sent to the showers, with Meunier-Roberge giving the Red Wing crowd a "shhhhh" on his way to the dressing room.
Kieper made 34 saves for the Bombers in a do-or-die situation, while Zol took the L with a 32 save performance.
With the win, the Bombers will force a Game 5 at home Saturday night. The same situation applies for Saturday - a Bomber win extends the season, while a Flin Flon loss will knock the team out of the playoffs and end the season.
While the Bombers and Wings will still do battle, one team has already booked their ticket to the league final - the Melfort Mustangs, who knocked off Yorkton in a four-game sweep, closing out the series Wednesday with a 3-1 Game 4 win.
