Weyburn's top line scored two goals and Mitch Kilgore stopped all 33 shots he faced to lead the Wings to a 3-0 win over the Bruins on Sunday at Spectra Place, giving Weyburn a 2-0 series lead.
Keegan Bruce drew first blood at 9:43 of the first, jamming a loose puck between the right post and the pad of Steven Glass.
The Wings would take that lead to the intermission, although Austin Yano did clang one off the post in the dying seconds of the period. Shots were Weyburn 9, Estevan 8 after one.
In the second, Weyburn got another goal midway through the period to take a two-goal cushion. Bruce set up a streaking Jesse Ross for a clear breakaway and the SJHL scoring champion buried it.
Tensions began to escalate in the second period. At one point, after a skirmish in front of the Bruins' net, Calder Neufeld and Robert Wilkinson were sent to the box. Shortly after they got out, they dropped the gloves, where Neufeld fed Wilkinson his supper.
The 2-0 Weyburn lead would stand until the end of the second, with the shots tied 19-19.
In the third period, the rink's fire alarm went off during play, including the alarm itself and about two dozen lights all over the arena. It ended up being a false alarm and the game was stopped for almost five minutes while the alarm was shut off.
Five power plays were handed to the two teams in the third, but no goals were produced. Finally, Ryan Whitell scored an empty-netter with 1:22 remaining to ice it.
An 0-for-7 day on the power play and an inability to convert on rebounds were two key reasons for the Bruins not being able to beat Kilgore, not to mention a strong display by the 20-year-old goaltender.
On top of that, I felt Weyburn's transition game was excellent both ways as they had some very good scoring chances on the rush (including their second goal) and also limited the Bruins' odd-man breaks.
The Bruins must now go into Weyburn on Tuesday and leave with a win - something they were 25.6 seconds away from doing in Game 1.
Post-game with Keith Cassidy:
