The Kamloops Blazers showed Saturday they won't go quietly into the night.
Embarrassed after being dominated for 60 minutes by the Kelowna Rockets Friday, the Blazers came out in game two of their opening round series and gave as good as they got.
They fell just short in a 3-2 defeat, but served notice this wouldn't be a cakewalk.
After managing just 15 shots in game one and barely a good chance, the Blazers peppered Michael Herringer with three shots in the first 30 seconds, two of them good scoring opportunities.
Although the Blazers started quick, it was the Rockets who drew first blood. Just three minutes in, Calvin Thurkauf gained the offensive zone and dropped a pass to nick Merkley, who in turn dropped the puck to Cal Foote who sent a wrist shot past Connor Ingram of the glove side.
The teams raced up and own the ice much of the rest of the game, forcing Herringer and Ingram to make key saves to keep their respective teams close.
But, it was Herringer, who barely raised a sweat in game one, who came up with the biggest save of the night, and possibly the season.
Kamloops sniper Collin Shirley had Herringer at his mercy on the tail end of a three-on-two, but Herringer dove to his right and somehow got the paddle of stick on the puck to deny Shirley.
"To be honest, I put my head down already because I know how good of a player Shirley is," said Dillon Dube.
"But, it was probably the nicest save I've ever seen...they had all the momentum, and it completely changed the game."
Dube gave the Rockets a 2-0 with a shorthanded goal at 11:55 of the third. An errant back pass at the Rockets blueline was gobbled up by Dube who raced down the ice two-on-one.
Instead of passing, Dube sent a wrist shot from the left circle that beat Ingram five hole.
Ninety seconds later, on a Kelowna power play, Dube notched his second of the period with a shot from the right circle that beat Ingram high to the short side.
But, the Blazers kept coming, and goals from Quinn Benjafield and Ondrej Vala on a power play two-and-a-half minutes apart gave the Blazers some life.
Deven Sideroff had the best chance to tie it in the dying seconds, but his shot from in close went high and bounced out of the Rockets end, allowing them to hang on for the one -goal victory.
"It got crazy," Dube said of the final minutes of the game.
"I think we were trying to chase the game a little, I think we got pretty excited, and got a little too high I guess. It's a good thing we didn't panic. We stuck to the game, and we took it to them.
Herringer turned away 33 shots to earn the win.
The Rockets lead the best-of-seven opening round series 2-0.
Games three and four will be played Tuesday and Wednesday in Kamloops.
A fifth game, if necessary, would be played back at Prospera Place Friday.