A four-goal lead was just barely enough for the Warren Mercs who held on for a 4-3 victory over the Portage Islanders Tuesday night at BDO Arena and now lead the South Eastern Manitoba Hockey League's best-of-seven final two games to none.

Mercs forward Braydon McDonald scored the lone goal of the first period.

Dylan Hykaway, Chase Faulkner and Trent Genyk scored in the middle frame extending Warren's lead to 4-0.

The Islander began their rally early in the third period.

Jens Meilleur ripped a slap shot that went top shelf and put Portage on the board five minutes in.

Derrick Brooks made it a 4-2 game with seven minutes remaining and less than two minutes later Riley Hay made it real interesting as he scored a power play goal to cut the deficit to one.

Warren was able to weather the storm as the Islanders were unable to bury the equalizer past Mercs netminder Reed Peters.

"Any time you give a team a sniff like that, they get one, they get two and now it's a one-goal game," Warren coach told PortageOnline's River Foster after game two. "I took a time out there to kind of reel everyone in. These guys have been in this situation with Altona. We had 6-5 and 7-6 overtime losses so they know how easy it is for a game to slip away on us. It comes down to hard work and being mentally prepared for your shift."

Portage captain Kyle Lopez said there were a number of positives the team took away from their third-period performance.

"Our forecheck got going, we were pinning their D-men down low and that's what we want to do. We want to generate some chances from below the goal-line and crash the net and that's what we did. We got three goals there. We have got to come back, get ready for work on Thursday and finish like we did in the third."

Game three goes Thursday (8 p.m.) at the Warren Arena.