Put it in the record books - the Flin Flon Bombers have survived the "Survivor Series".
Flin Flon took down the Weyburn Red Wings 6-2 at the Whitney Forum Sunday night, clinching the best-of-three play-in series and putting the Bombers into the second round.
The Bombers opened the scoring in the first period with Brandson Hein capitalizing on a turnover, going in on a breakaway and scoring shorthanded. Nate Hooper deflected another shot past Weyburn netminder Cody Levesque a few minutes later, sending Flin Flon into the first intermission with a 2-0 lead.
Weyburn started clawing back in the second, with former Bomber Dawson McKenzie getting a powerplay goal, then Connor Pyne tying the game shorthanded. The two teams were tied after 40 minutes.
The Bombers went into warpspeed in the final frame, with Donavan Houle-Villeneuve snagging the puck from McKenzie and scoring early to retake the lead. Caleb Franklin banged one in halfway through the period, while Hein snuck another puck past Levesque with mere minutes to go. Tyler Higgins floated one into the empty net with a minute remaining, clipping the Wings and icing the Bomber win.
Gabriel Waked made 24 stops for his second win of the playoffs, while Levesque made 58 saves on a night when the Bombers averaged more than a shot a minute.
The win will send the Bombers into a best-of-seven series with the Battlefords North Stars. It will be the third time in four years that the two teams will face off in the playoffs. The Stars finished the season with 80 points, eight ahead of the Bombers. Flin Flon won the season series between the two teams, winning three of the four games between the two sides.
The other SJHL play-in series is going to a decisive game three, set for Tuesday in Yorkton. The Terriers won the first game of the series against the Notre Dame Hounds 4-2, while the Hounds came back to win 5-1 Sunday. The winner of that series will face regular season champs Nipawin in a best-of-seven series.
The Reminder will have full post-game online recaps for every Bomber playoff game.
