Playoffs are about moments and the Humboldt Broncos faced theirs early.
The green and gold faced a five-minute penalty kill just 3:08 into the opening period of game three of their Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League best of seven quarterfinal series on home ice on March 20.
In what could have easily caused the home side to crumble, the Broncos rose up to the adversity, persevered, and killed it off.
That kill proved massive as the Broncos picked up a 4-1 win over the Melfort Mustangs.
The win gave the Broncos a 2-1 lead in the Bourgault Cup series.
“That five minute was huge. That kill set the tone for the game. I think if we didn’t kill that it would have been a completely different game,” noted Broncos forward Kaleb Dahlgren.
A trio of Saskatoon boys led the way offensively for the Broncos as 20-year-old Dahlgren, 19-year-old Brayden Camrud, and 18-year-old Xavier Labelle each scored once and set up one other in the win.
Former Mustang Jaxon Joseph rounded out the scoring for the Broncos, notching his fifth goal in three games.
Tyler Heidt responded for the Mustangs.
While the score might suggest it was easy, the win was anything but for the green and gold, with Dahlgren noting everyone did a good job being locked in.
“Everybody came and battled… everybody stepped up their game tonight and it was nice to win at home for sure.”
After the teams combined for 18 goals in the first two games of the series, game three reverted back to a more common style of tight checking low scoring games in the playoffs.
That was none more evident that in the first period when the teams failed to find the back of the net, managing just 14 shots combined.
The Broncos wasted little time getting on the board in the second as Xavier Labelle snuck into some open ice in the slot, took a nifty feed from Camrud and beat Mustang netminder Evan Plotnik, to put the home side in front 1-0.
As the period wore on the Mustangs pushed harder and harder for the tie and were finally rewarded as Heidt pulled the Mustangs into a tie with just 30 seconds left in period two.
Heidt took a feed from Loch Morrison raced passed all four Broncos on the ice during a stretch of 4-on-4, cut across the goal and tucked it in far side before Broncos netminder Parker Tobin could slide his pad across to make the save.
That late goal seemed to give the Mustangs life as they hemmed the Broncos into their own zone for long stretches of the early part of the third.
While the Mustangs had the puck for a large majority of the first half of the period, the Broncos did a good job limiting the scoring chances for the Mustangs in a bend but don’t break style.
Finally, the Broncos began getting their legs back under them.
With time winding down, Dahlgren found himself in the slot with his back to the goal.
The 20-year-old fired a spinning shot towards the goal, which beat Plotnik on the blocker side to give the Broncos a 2-1 lead.
Dahlgren joked that his goal was simply a case of turning and shooting with his eyes closed and hoping for the best.
“I got the puck, I spun around and I just ripped it on net and lucky enough it went in. Sometimes you get garbage goals like that and I’ll take that every day.”
Once he saw the puck hit the net, and he realized his late goal was the game winner, Dahlgen described that moment as “awesome.”
“It’s something you dream about as a kid and to have it happen to you is just surreal right now.”
Joseph continued haunting his former club, as the 20-year-old added a power play marker 1:37 later to put the home side in front 3-1.
The Mustangs pulled their goalie hoping to cut into the Broncos lead, but Camrud hit the empty net on a shot from his own blueline to seal the deal, giving the Broncos a 4-1 win.
Heading into the third period, after giving up such a back breaking goal, Dahlgren noted the message and key for the home side was to just stay persistent.
“We’ve got to keep on going hard and doing the little things right and they add up over time. Sure enough we got a good bounce and it just kept on going uphill from there.”
In a somewhat surprising move, Tobin started over Jacob Wassermann, who played the first two games of the series.
Tobin rewarded the Broncos brain trust with an excellent effort turning aside 27 of the 28 shots he faced to pick up his first career junior A playoff victory as the Mustangs outshot the Broncos 28-27.
Special teams were once again special for the Broncos as they finished the evening 2-for-5 with the man advantage, improving their power play to 9-for-23 in the series.
Their penalty kill has also been terrific as they held the Mustangs scoreless on six opportunities, including the five minute major, as the Mustangs have just two goals on 18 power plays in the series.
