The Battlefords North Stars find themselves with a chance to sweep aside the Weyburn Red Wings in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League quarter-final for the second straight season.
With a 4-1 win at Crescent Point Place Tuesday evening, the North Stars hold a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven affair and can punch their ticket into the semifinal round for the third straight year with a road win Wednesday.
Cole Johnson led the way up front for the North Stars with a pair of goals, while Keith Anderson had a pair of assists.
Layne Young and MacGregor Sinclair both scored on an empty net in the final minute to seal the win, which saw Cody Spagrud and Brad Girard picking up assists.
After giving up five goals on 24 shots in a wild 6-5 win Saturday at the Civic Centre, Joel Grzybowski was stellar for the visitors as he turned aside 27 shots and made a number of save of the year candidates to help the North Stars earn their 15th straight post-season win.
Arik Weersink made 34 saves for the Red Wings in the loss, with their lone goal coming from Jeremy Velazquez in the third period.
If the Red Wings can keep their season alive Wednesday, the series will return to the Civic Centre Friday at 7:30 p.m. for Game 5.
A sixth game, if needed, would be held in Weyburn Sunday and a seventh contest, if required, will take place in North Battleford next Tuesday evening at 7:30 p.m..
In other SJHL playoff action Tuesday, Bo Didur turned aside all 18 shots he faced to give the Estevan Bruins a 5-0 road victory over the Kindersley Klippers and a 3-0 series lead in the process.
The most surprising result of the night came at the Whitney Forum as the Flin Flon Bombers defeated the Nipawin Hawks by a score of 3-2 and now trail the league leaders by a 2-1 margin.
Finally, the Humboldt Broncos now have a 2-1 lead over the Melfort Mustangs in the quarter-final matchup after a 4-1 triumph in Humboldt.
All three of those series will continue their fourth games Wednesday, the results of which were unknown at press time.
