Facing elimination, the Carlyle Cougars entertained the Bienfait Coalers Monday night in game three of their best-of-five Big Six Hockey League quarter-final series. The Cougars would take advantage of the home ice to skate to a 5-2 win, forcing a game four to be played Tuesday night.

The scoring opened late in the first period when Craig Fournier found the net behind Landon Audet to give the Coalers a 1-0 lead with 1:24 to play in the frame. He was assisted on the goal by Keegan Malaryk. The lead wouldn’t last long, though. 

Brett Turgeon responded for the Cougars 39 seconds later. His goal, assisted by Devon McGonigal, would even the game up 1-1 as the teams headed to the dressing room.

In the second period, the Cougars would score two goals in rapid succession. The first was from Dakota Rose at the 7:05 mark of the period, assisted by Tyler Mathewson and Jesse Mathewson. The second came 33 seconds later when Zach Brown, assisted by McGonigal and Turgeon, made it 3-1 for the home team.

The Coalers would pull within a goal in the third period. 

Jason Hengen found the twine with 7:18 on the clock. The goal wouldn’t be enough, though, as Tyer Mathewson and Ty Currie scored in the final minute of the goal to make it a 5-2 final.

The fourth game of the series will be in Bienfait Tuesday night. Game five, if necessary, will be back in Carlyle on Friday.