Steven Glass was playing out of his mind and it appeared the Bruins would hang on to steal Game 1 in Weyburn's barn.
Then it all changed in an instant. Carter Struthers took a pass from the corner and wristed a shot from the point that got through traffic and beat Glass high to tie the game 2-2 with 25.6 seconds left in regulation.
In overtime, the Wings got a chance in front, the puck skittered to the right side, and then Miguel Pereira walked out in front, untouched, and snuck a backhander five-hole on Glass to complete the Wings' rally.
Make no mistake, Weyburn controlled more of the play throughout the game and spent most of the third period in the Bruins' end, but the Bruins came to play. Aside from Glass's stellar play, it was a fast-paced, physical game, with the visitors certainly creating their share of chances.
Estevan was 25 seconds away from accomplishing something huge - taking the series opener from the favoured Wings in their own rink.
It's the kind of swing that can really mess with a team mentally, so it will be important for them to put it behind them immediately and focus on Game 2 tomorrow at Spectra Place.
The teams were tied 1-1 after the first period. Dylan Smith scored his first of the post-season at 7:45 on a shot from the slot that he didn't get all of, but managed to sneak behind Mitch Kilgore anyway.
With three minutes left in the period, though, Ryan Whitell jammed a Pereira rebound past Glass to tie it up.
After a solid goalie duel in a scoreless second period, Calder Neufeld put the Bruins on top again two minutes into the third. Neufeld corralled the rebound of a shot by Smith (I think) and beat Kilgore from the right side of the net.
After that, the Bruins uncharacteristically retreated into a shell for the rest of the period, and while Glass's play and a good job of collapsing around the net helped keep the puck out, Keith Cassidy wasn't happy that his team stopped pressing for some insurance.
Shots on goal were 44-27 for Weyburn.
It was a loud crowd in Weyburn, but the size of it was smaller than I was expecting. To me, you should be able to sell out a rink of 1,400 for a playoff game against Estevan, for the first time in 14 years, on a Friday night.
Needless to say, there should be a much bigger crowd at Spectra on Sunday.
This was a barnburner of a game, and if this is the kind of entertainment we can expect for the rest of the series, it will live up to the hype and then some.
Post-game with Keith:
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