The CanElson Drilling Estevan Bruins are in the dance, but they still have work to do.
A 6-3 victory over the Kindersley Klippers on Sunday clinched a playoff spot for the Bruins, two days after a 3-2 loss to the Humboldt Broncos.
The win over Kindersley also kept hopes of fourth place alive for the Bruins (19-28-4), who now trail the Klippers by three points with a game in hand.
Regardless of which team gets home ice advantage, the Bruins and Klippers will square off in the Sherwood Conference survivor series.
Bruins captain Connor Milligan said that clinching a playoff spot doesn't mean the team can rest easy for its final three games.
"We want home ice. It's a big thing, especially with the travel distance, whereas last year, we only had the two hours (to Wilcox)," he said.
The Bruins roared out of the gate on Sunday, taking a 4-0 lead after the first period.
There was plenty of motivation for the club after taking two losses on the chin against the Klippers last weekend.
"They handed us a pretty solid beating over there, so we wanted to return the favour. The boys were ready for this one," said centre Alex Cote, who scored twice on Sunday.
"The challenge was, hey, let's take advantage of this and make the playoffs, right here and now," added head coach Keith Cassidy. "They ran six up on us in Kindersley (on Feb. 9) and that was sort of a goal as well."
The Bruins needed only 82 seconds to take the lead on a point shot by Tyler Kauk. Dylan Smith was credited with the power play goal on a deflection.
Less than two minutes later, Taylor Reich found Matt Brykaliuk all alone in the slot and he beat goalie Tyrell King five-hole.
Milligan made it 3-0 midway through the period on his first goal of the season, firing a point shot home on the power play. That was enough to chase King in favour of Warren Shymko.
"It's exciting, especially for a guy like me who doesn't put too many in," Milligan said. "Actually, the first thing I said to Brykaliuk was, 'Did you touch that?' just to make sure that it was mine."
Wyatt Garagan rounded out the first-period shooting gallery at 15:24, popping a rebound over Shymko.
The Bruins outshot the Klippers 17-5 in the period.
"We've had a tougher time against Kindersley (this season), but I think we proved that we can play with them, especially in our home rink. We dominated a lot more than a 6-3 game (shows)," Cote said.
Cote extended the Bruins' lead 2:17 into the second, burying the loose puck after Hudson Morrison's pass attempt hit a defenceman.
The Klippers finally scored with three minutes left in the period on a penalty shot.
Nick Egan coughed up the puck at the blue line, leading to a breakaway for Kyle Davies. Egan pushed him into the net and Davies was awarded a penalty shot, which saw him put a backhander past Bruins goalie Curtis Martinu.
Cote scored again only 90 seconds into the third, stealing the puck from defender Justin Schoffer and ringing it off the iron and in.
Three minutes later, Kindersley's Beau Stewart scored on a rebound, and Bradley Buckingham closed out the scoring with three minutes left on a scramble in the slot on a Klippers 5-on-3.
The final tally on the shot clock was 46-22 in favour of the Bruins.
On Friday, meanwhile, the Bruins and Broncos were knotted up after two periods when a turnover led to the winning goal for Humboldt early in the third.
Tyler Paslawski's breakout pass hit Brandon Tidy, allowing Tidy to beat Martinu on a partial breakaway for his second of the night.
"You win as a team, you lose as a team. Things like that, they're tough to swallow, especially when you've battled as hard as we did and the opportunity we had," said Cassidy.
The Broncos dominated the first 10 minutes of the game, getting the opening goal from Alex Forsberg in the process.
Forsberg, the disgruntled former Prince George Cougar who joined the Broncos at the Jan. 10 trade deadline, scored on the power play at 4:22 on a harmless-looking shot from the left faceoff circle.
The Bruins rebounded in the second half of the period, beginning with a highlight-reel goal by Smith midway through the period.
Smith blocked a shot, tracked down the loose puck, got past Broncos rearguard David Stumborg, and ripped a high shot past goalie Matt Hrynkiw to tie the game.
Smith scored again on a power play at the 15-minute mark, tapping in a rebound at the side of the net.
The 2-1 lead held until the 12-minute mark of the second period, when Tidy put in the rebound of a Justin Lund shot.
Humboldt outshot Estevan 28-22.
The Bruins will play a home-and-home set against Weyburn this weekend, hosting the Red Wings on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and hitting the road the next night. Their final regular season game is on Tuesday, when they host the Notre Dame Hounds at 7:30 p.m.
The Bruins have signed former backup goalie Tyler Ross to back up Martinu for the rest of the year. Ross will arrive in Estevan on Friday and is expected to start at least one of the three remaining games.
