Brayden Burke scored with just over four minutes to play in the third period as the Moose Jaw Warriors overcame a 2-1 deficit to beat the Swift Current Broncos 3-2 in game two of their first round WHL playoff series.

The third period comeback allowed Moose Jaw to narrowly avoid going on the road to Swift Current down two games to none.

“We did a lot of good things again tonight,” said Broncos associate coach Ryan Smith. “We had a game plan going into this weekend. We wanted to make sure we got one and we did. We wanted to get that second one and we didn't do quite enough to get it.”

Swift Current got off to a good start as MacKenzie Wight jammed in his first WHL playoff goal to convert on some good Broncos pressure in the first period. They didn't build on that as much as they would like to as the game went on.

“We played a pretty strong game,” said Broncos forward Lane Pederson. “We let of the gas a little bit in the second period but we got our lead back. We just got to find a way to shut down the third period. Good teams find a way. Moving forward we've got to make sure when we have a lead in the third period we lock it down.”

Branden Klatt finished off a nice play by Luka Burzan late in the second period as Moose Jaw finally solved Jordan Papirny for the first time nearly five periods into the series. The Broncos bounced right back at the tail end of a power play when Tyler Steenbergen completed a nice passing play set up by Pederson and Max Lajoie.

Despite the 2-1 lead the Broncos felt the game started to go the wrong way in that period.

“It was the build up to the final twenty minutes,” Smith said. “The second period we turned a lot of pucks over in the neutral zone, leaving our zone exiting not cleanly. We gave them a little momentum. They played hard. We knew they were going to be desperate and they were. We tried to be too cute and not straight forward.”

The game shifted when Glenn Gawdin hit a post early in the third period on a play that could have given the Broncos a 3-1 lead. Thomas Foster tied the game not long after on a quick wrap-around and the Warriors built momentum.

Matt Sozanski thought he had given the Warriors their first lead of the series on a goal that was waived off due to Brett Howden interfering with Papirny.

The Warriors did eventually get that lead as Burzan drove towards the net and the puck found Burke's stick. He fired it upstairs and a Mosaic Place that had at times been overtaken by noise from Broncos fans was brought to life for the home team. Burke hadn't played at all in the second period before returning to score the game winner in the third.

The Broncos had their chances to tie it up including a power play with 54 seconds to play, but the Warriors held on in what was another hotly contested game.

Despite the loss the Broncos do get the split most road teams are aiming for at the start of a playoff series.

“We're happy to get game one but by no means are we satisfied with letting game two slip away the way we did,” Pederson said. “We should have had that game and we've got to learn from our mistakes in the third period and be ready to go back home.”

Both games were hard-fought and had some ups and downs. They offer the coaching staff a lot of material as the teams look to make adjustments before game three in Swift Current.

“It's a seven game series and now it's a best of five,” Smith said. “We're going to work on some stuff over the next couple days to get ready for game three. We'll try to fix a few of the things we didn't do well tonight and move on. I expect it to be a longer series. This is just the start of it.”

Both goaltenders were strong again as Papirny made 31 saves for Swift Current and Zach Sawchenko stopped 34 Broncos shots.

Now the series shifts to the Credit Union iPlex where the Broncos will look to hold serve and maintain the home-ice advantage they earned with a split on the road.

“I think everyone is pretty excited to get back to Swift and play in front of our fans,” Pederson said. “They've been unbelievable support. We hope it's loud, we hope they're into it and hopefully we put a good product on in front of them.”