It was right there for the taking.
The Estevan Bruins generated all kinds of scoring chances, but they failed to capitalize, made a few mistakes, and at the end of the night the scoreboard read 3-1 for the Kindersley Klippers.
The Bruins had been trying to close out the survivor series with a win so they could rest up before taking on the Yorkton Terriers in the next round.
Now they're faced with a situation where they absolutely must win Game 4 tonight. If they don't, the series goes back to Kindersley for Game 5 on Thursday, and that's a scenario the Bruins need to avoid at all costs.
Last night, the Klippers needed only 56 seconds to take the lead, with Ryan Doner beating Curtis Martinu on a low shot from the top of the left circle. It was a bit of a softie.
To the Bruins' credit, they responded quickly and outplayed the Klippers for most of the period.
Hudson Morrison tied the game on a power play at 3:27, taking a pass from Tanner Froese and snapping it high blocker side on Warren Shymko. Martinu started the play by firing a long pass up to Froese at the blueline.
The Bruins had some great chances in the rest of the period, but couldn't beat Shymko again. That would come back to bite them.
The Klippers nearly retook the lead before the buzzer when Nick Egan's turnover at the line led to a 2-on-1 for Colby Daniels and Doner, but the latter fanned on what would have been a likely goal.
Kindersley did get back on top at 4:08 of the second, when Stefan Seel pounded a shot from the top of the left circle that hit Martinu in the shoulder area and ricocheted up into the top of the net. It was a hard shot that even a big goalie like Martinu couldn't do much with.
Later in the period, Klippers defenceman Troy Gedny hit Morrison from behind in the corner in the Klippers' zone. I didn't like the fact that no one aside from Calder Neufeld tried to defend Morrison. He eventually made his way off with the help of Gerry Aspen and later returned to the game.
The Bruins took some bad penalties, and despite the crowd booing some of the calls, most were legit. The Klippers were rewarded for a strong period by taking a 2-1 lead to the third.
If the Bruins had good chances in the first, the way they buzzed around the Klippers' zone for most of the third made that look like child's play. There were some simply fantastic scoring opportunities, but Estevan couldn't bury any of them.
At one point, Alex Cote nearly buried a loose puck in the crease and, in the middle of a big scramble, the play was blown dead. It didn't look to me like Shymko had it covered, but that was just from my angle.
After dominating the first 10-12 minutes of the period, the Bruins started losing a lot of faceoffs and struggled to generate more offensive pressure.
With 3:20 to play, Bradley Buckingham drilled Tyler Kauk from behind, between the benches. Again, no one stood up for Kauk. I understand that you don't want to jeopardize the power play in that situation, but I still don't think you can stand around like nothing happened.
The Bruins got nothing done on that man advantage and gave up an insurance goal, with Brandon Lauder scoring on a 2-on-1 shorthanded with 1:27 to play.
There was a lot of frustration among the players and coaching staff after the game, and understandably so. But it's crucial that the team put this behind them, not get too caught up in it, and focus on tonight's game.
