The Nipawin Hawks must be experiencing déjà vu.
The Hawks picked up their third win of the playoffs away from home, knocking off the Flin Flon Bombers 5-2 in the fourth game of the quarter-final series against Flin Flon on March 21.
That pushes the Hawks into a 3-1 series lead over the Bombers, the same advantage they held last year before losing three straight games and the series to their Northern Manitoba rivals.
The difference this time around is they have home ice advantage and hold two chances to close out the series on home ice, as opposed to last year where two of the final three games were held at the Whitney Forum in Flin Flon.
Brandan Arnold enjoyed another fantastic evening, notching two goals and one assist to bring his four game total to six goals and ten points, both league bests.
Brett Harasymuk matched Arnold’s production on the evening scoring twice and setting up one other, while Jake Tremblay added a goal, the first of his SJHL playoff career, and an assist in the win.
Declan Hobbs picked up his third win of the series in the Hawks goal, turning aside 36 shots.
Tyler Nyman and Isaac Jackson responded with the goals for the Bombers, while Brenden Newton made 24 saves in a losing effort.
The Bombers outshot the Hawks 38-29.
For the third time in four games in this series, it was Flin Flon would broke the ice, as Isaac Jackson scored his second of the series, with his other being the first goal of Game 2.
Jackson’s goal gave the home side a 1-0 lead at 16:38 of period one.
The Hawks wasted little time getting the game tied back up, as Tremblay beat Newton just 1:33 later to tie the score at one.
Tremblay’s goal was the Hawks’ first even strength marker since the second period of Game 1, snapping a streak of six straight power play goals.
That late goal seemed to spark the Hawks as they broke the game open with a pair of second period goals.
Harasymuk got the second period party started for the black and gold as he scored his first of the playoffs at 13:57, giving the visitors their first lead of the game.
Arnold then extended the Hawks’ lead to two just over three minutes later, scoring an unassisted shorthanded marker to put the Hawks ahead 3-1 after two periods.
The Bombers made things interesting early in the third as Nyman scored his first of the series just 58 seconds into the third period, cutting the Hawks’ lead to 3-2.
That was as close as the Bombers would come though, as Harasymuk scored his second goal of the game at 10:01 and Arnold added an empty-netter to seal the win.
After scoring six straight goals while on the power play, the Hawks struggled with the man advantage in Game 4as they failed to score on any of their six man advantage opportunities.
Their penalty kill, meanwhile, was solid once again, holding the Bombers 0-for-4.
The Hawks will look to put an end to their quarter-final series and erase the memories of last season, with Game 5 on home ice on March 23.
