Trailing 5-2 early in the second period, the 91原创 Thunder power play went to work. The Thunder man-advantage unit scored three straight goals 鈥� which were also part of a larger 8-0 run stretching to the third period 鈥� in a 10-8 victory over the visiting Victoria Shamrocks on Saturday(Aug. 13) at 91原创 Events Centre.

The game five win gives 91原创 a 3-2 lead in the Western Lacrosse Association best-of-seven semi-final series with game six set for Sunday at Victoria鈥檚 Q Centre. A Shamrocks victory would set up a winner-take-all game on Tuesday (August 16) back at 91原创 Events Centre and the winner advances to face the Nanaimo Timbermen in the WLA Championship Series.

After winning the opening two games of the series 鈥� 15-9 and 15-10 鈥� the Thunder were coming off a pair of losses, 10-3 in game three and then 12-10 in overtime on game four.

READ ALSO: WLA Thunder in lead, Junior Thunder come back to tie series

鈥淲e were playing this game like a game seven. Our backs were against the wall; we didn鈥檛 want to be in a must-win situation going into Victoria tomorrow. We knew we had to put our foot on the gas and give ourselves a lead going into the third and we did a good job of doing that,鈥� said 91原创鈥檚 Curtis Dickson, the game鈥檚 first star following a two-goal, seven-point effort.

91原创 jumped out to a 2-0 lead with goals 20 seconds apart before Victoria closed the period with four straight and then made it 5-2 early in the second.

The Thunder power play then went to work, scoring on three consecutive man-advantage opportunities. Dickson said the key was good ball movement and not trying to force the play.

READ ALSO: VIDEO: 91原创 Thunder take game one of WLA semifinal

鈥淚t was just a matter of hitting our shots. I thought we had some good looks in the first, but their goalie was playing well,鈥� Dickson said of the Shamrocks鈥� Colin Jeffery, who was a surprise starter with Pete Dubenski unavailable for game five following back-to-back victories in games three and four.

鈥淎t times on our power play, we have just been trying to get the ball on net rather than making that extra pass and getting better looks. I thought we moved the ball well and shot the ball well.鈥�

91原创 also scored three more goals 鈥� including another one on the power play 鈥� before the period was done for an 8-5 lead after 40 minutes. They then tacked on another pair of goals to make it 10-5 before Victoria scored three times in the latter half of the third period, the last two coming with the goaltender pulled for the extra attacker. They would get no closer, however.

鈥淚t was a must-win for us. We came into this game thinking like it was our last. That is how every game from now on has to be treated. The boys really showed up. We clocked in today and got the 鈥榃鈥�,鈥� said the Thunder鈥檚 Trent Kellner.

While Dickson led all scorers with seven points, Connor Robinson (two goals, three assists), Dane Dobbie (two goals, two assists), Chase Scanlan (two goals, two assists) and Dylan Kinnear (one goal, three assists) each had four or more points. Erik Maas had the other 91原创 goal.

Scigliano finished with 37 saves on 45 shots.