The Helena Bighorns failed to take advantage of their power play opportunities and the Gillette Wild shook off a number of penalties to win, 5-2.

With the win, Gillette avoided elimination to make the series score 1-1 in the best of three series.

In a losing effort, Helena was led by Johnny Bonta, who finished with two goals. Bonta scored the first of his two goals at 1:22 into the first period to make the score 1-0 Helena. Blake Babineau picked up the assist. Bonta's next tally made the score 4-2 Gillette with 10:09 left in the third period. Brandt Miller provided the assist.

The Wild were led by Cade Boreing, who racked up one goal. Boreing scored on the power play 18:35 into the first period to make the score 3-1 Gillette. Alex King picked up the assist.

Gillette forced the Bighorns' netminders to work between the pipes, firing 35 shots and forcing 30 saves. Adam Ranck made 12 stops and Grant Martens made 18. The Wild's penalty kill was spotless, allowing no goals on six Helena power plays.

Mitchell McEwan also scored for Gillette. In addition, Gillette received assists from Bryce Mitzel, Austin Tennant, Mitchell Huffman, TJ McMinn, and Ryan Bochert, who each chipped in one.

Gillette was unable to stop Helena from sending pucks towards the net, and the Bighorns eventually piled up 33 shots on goal.

Other players who recorded assists for Helena were Matt Mohar, who had one.

The Wild's Alex Feese stopped 31 shots out of the 33 that he faced. Gillette incurred 14 minutes in penalty time with seven minors. Helena incurred four minutes in penalty time with two minors.