Mathieu Moreira scored twice to help give the Winnipeg Blues a 2-1 series lead with a 5-3 win over the Winkler Flyers in Game Three.
Just 47 seconds into the game, Moreira scored his first goal with a nice backhander on the breakaway to give the Blues a goal on their first shot.
After that, Winnipeg continued solid play throughout the first, but Trent Sambrook would tie the game on the power play for a 1-1 score after the first.
In the second period, Winnipeg and Winkler exchanged goals 35 seconds apart from each other to push the game up to a 2-2 score. For the Blues, Mike Tanchak’s power play goal was their only power play goal of the game; Winnipeg went 1/5 with an extra man.
Late in the second, Moreira got his second on a beautiful shot from the slot. Only 1:03 later, Eric Fawkes put home a rebound to make it a 4-2 Blues lead heading into the final frame.
In the third, Winkler got an early goal to make things tight again, but Jack Kaiser put in a full shift of effort to outwork the Flyer’s defense for a breakaway and a beautiful goal.
From there, Winnipeg shut the game down for a 5-3 win and a 2-1 series lead.
The Blues will look to push the Flyers to the brink on Friday, April 1 in Winkler. Game Four starts at 7:30 p.m. with a 7:20 p.m. broadcast start on Gametime Radio.