Lauchlin Elder had five points and Miles MacLean had four points as the Saugeen Shores Winterhawks struck back in their series with the Tillsonburg Thunder.
The Winterhawks scored on the power play twice to pace themselves to a 6-4 win in Game 3 of their WOAA Sr. "AA" quarterfinal series.
It was a less than ideal start, as the Winterhawks struggled early on, which lead to a penalty and a Tillsonburg power play goal at 5:33 of the opening frame.
Once the legs got going, the Winterhawks started generating more chances, though a power play of their own did not bear fruit.
As the opening frame ticked down, the Winterhawks got a much-needed tying goal, as Nick Quaid let a booming shot go from the point, which was tipped in by Brent MacDermid at the 19-minute mark to make it 1-1.
Another slow start for the Winterhawks cost them dearly, falling behind just 26-seconds into the 2nd period on a goal by Tillsonburg's Zach van Louwe.
The power play went to work from there.
MacLean put the Winterhawks even with Tillsonburg as a power play ticked down to the final seconds, re-directing a centering pass from Elder as he was hauled to the ice, tying the game at 2-2.
The go-ahead goal followed at 12:38 of the 2nd, as MacLean fed a pass over to Elder, which was tipped up in the air, but Elder's lacrosse hands batted the puck out of mid-air, off Tillsonburg goaltender Tommy Lee and into the net.
Another power play followed and MacDermid netted his second of the night, stepping in from the half-boards and firing a low snot into the corner of the net to make it 4-2, with assists to Blake Underwood and Elder.
The lead held into the 3rd period and this time, it was the Winterhawks who came out with fire, as Underwood made it 5-2 as he chipped a feed from MacLean and Elder at 2:47.
MacLean completed the huge performance at 5:19 of the 3rd, firing the puck past Lee to make it 6-2 for the home side, with assists to Underwood and Elder.
A Winterhawks power play followed not long after, but with Tillsonburg in need of goals, the Thunder pushed the issue and went fishing for breakaways despite being down a skater.
It paid off in the form of a two-on-one shorthanded goal to make it 6-3.
From there, the officials made their presence more than known, whistling the Winterhawks for three minor penalties in the final nine minutes of the game.
The first two were killed off by the Winterhawks, but by the time the third minor was called, Tillsonburg pulled their goalie for an extra attacker and scored with the two-man advantage to make it a 6-4 game.
The Thunder again pulled their goalie for the extra attacker, but the Winterhawks managed to rag the puck long enough to kill the remaining time on the clock to take the 6-4 victory.
Elder finished the game with one goal and four assists, while MacLean netted two goals and two assists.
The win cuts the Tillsonburg series lead to 2-1, and the Winterhawks will travel south on Sunday looking to tie the series.
Start time for Game 4 in Tillsonburg is 7:00 p.m.
Boxscore via GameSheet Inc.