Kaleb Dahlgren scored with just over five minutes remaining, as the Humboldt Broncos gained a 2-1 series edge with a 4-1 victory over Melfort on Tuesday night.

Dahlgren's winner came on a rebound from the circle after an initial shot from defenseman Xavier Labelle.

It helped the Broncos turn around what was at times, an iffy final frame according to Head Coach Darcy Haugan.

"Third period wasn't our prettiest, but we held on and got a key goal from Kaleb to put it away," he said. "The power play came through once again for us. We're feeling confident with it and it was nice to see the guys rewarded."

The Broncos started the scoring early in the second period on a goal from Labelle and added a second goal on the man advantage late in the third, giving them nine power play tallies in three games.

It was a grind-em-out effort from the Broncos in picking up two points after they were quickly down two players in the first period.

Defenseman Ryan Straschnitzki was lost three minutes in after a boarding major, and then Evan Thomas exited the game after taking a high stick to the face, causing his eye to swell up and close.

Haugan says that being shorthanded for most of the game didn't help, but he was proud of his team's fight.

"That's probably where our fatigue started to set in, so we were down to five defensemen and 11 forwards for the most part. We had to dig deep to get the win and it's not going to get any easier from here."

The Broncos had to play seven of the first 20 minutes shorthanded, which Haugan says forced certain players to play larger roles.

"That puts a lot of extra minutes on your key guys, but I thought guys like Tyler Smith, Kaleb Dahlgren and Jacob Leicht did extremely well for us in killing penalties."

Defensively, the Broncos also saw a strong performance from goaltender Parker Tobin, who made 27 saves in securing his first playoff win.

Jaxon Joseph scored for the third straight game, giving him a total of five goals in the series. Brayden Camrud added an empty net tally in the final seconds. 

With a 2-1 series edge, the Broncos will quickly look to keep digging a hole for the Mustangs, as they host Game 4 on Wednesday night at 7:30.