Three quick goals scored midway through the first period was all it took for Boston Pizza/Yukon Rad to eliminate the Cinderwood Canucks from the Whitehorse Recreational Hockey League's playoff picture.

Boston Pizza went on to notch three more goals in the second frame to get the 6-2 victory.

This was the third and deciding game of the first round 'A' divisional series between the two teams, which was played on Tuesday.

The team will now face Yukon Appliance in the second round of playoffs.

Yukon Appliance eliminated the Terra Firma Muckers 8-4 in a game that was also played on Tuesday.

Altogether there are three playoff rounds in the Whitehorse Recreational Hockey League.

"It gets exciting," said Boston Pizza forward Derek Johnstone about qualifying for the next round.

"You never want to get beat out, but we are looking forward to playing in the finals. We want to go all the way, so hopefully we can step up in the next series."

Boston Pizza won the opening game of the series 3-1, scoring all three goals in the first period, including one with less than thirty seconds left on the clock.

After dropping the opening game, Cinderwood overcame any pressure with being faced with elimination to bounce back in game two, winning the game by the decisive score of 6-2.

The team scored an impressive five goals in the first period and then netted one more in the second frame to force Tuesday's final game between the two teams.

The Canucks continued their strong play from the previous game in the early going of Tuesday's contest, skating hard to the puck and putting pressure on the Boston Pizza players who were on the ice.

With the high level of energy, it didn't take Cinderwood long to get its first scoring chance, which occurred just a few minutes into the opening period when a Canucks forward was able to break in uncontested on Boston Pizza goalie Brian Power.

Power played the shot perfectly, staying square to the shooter and controlling the rebound, so no further chances were created on the play.

Cinderwood didn't let up and the team continued its fine play into the mid-way point of the period.

At one point, the team looked as though they were on the power play, passing the puck around the Boston Pizza zone and forcing Power to make three difficult saves in less than a one minute time span.

Boston Pizza ended up taking advantage of Cinderwood's missed opportunities, scoring its first goal at 12:35 on a breakaway by Johnstone.

Johnstone out-weighted Canucks goalie Jeff Quinsey and made a quick move to his left before putting the puck in the back of the net.

Both Lance Brown and Power were credited with an assist on the goal.

Not even a minute later, the team increased its lead to 2-0 on a hard shot by Trevor Twardochleb, which deflected in off the post. Boston Pizza scored once more on a shot by Rob Johnston at 10:16 to go ahead by three goals.

Boston Pizza's final scoring chance of the period occurred near the five minute mark of the game after a Canucks player broke his stick in Cinderwood's zone.

Boston Pizza only managed one shot that was gloved and held by Quinsey before any damage could be done.

With less than 30 seconds left in the first period, Cinderwood went on the power play, giving the team an opportunity to get back into the game.

Cinderwood didn't score on the power play to begin the second frame, but the team did manage to get on the board shortly after when Kirk Gale scored at 17:47.

Gale wasted little time skating into the Boston Pizza zone, firing a low shot that eluded Power to cut into the Canuck's deficit.

After a couple of missed Cinderwood opportunities, Boston Pizza would score once again, restoring its three goal advantage just before the 10 minute point of the period.

Johnson netted the goal, which was his second of the game.

Johnson completed the hat trick with less than two minutes to go in the game, putting the contest out of reach for Cinderwood.

The goal was scored as a result of a nice setup by Dean Mastrangelo.

Mastrangelo slid the puck through the crease to a wide open Johnson, who wasted no time putting it into the empty side of the net for an easy goal.

Boston Pizza scored its sixth goal on another nice pass setup by Jamie Edzera.

Edzera's pass sent Bryan Curial in all alone, who made no mistake in tallying the goal.

Frank Aucoin scored with two seconds remaining in regulation for Cinderwood to give them their second goal of the game in the loss.

Johnstone said Cinderwood played well in the series.

"They are a decent team," he said.

"They sort of based their team on an oldtimers team this year, which is different for them, but they put up a good fight in the series overall.

They came to play in the playoffs."

He said he didn't have a preference for the team's opponents in the next round.

"It doesn't really matter for our team," Johnstone said.

"We are going to come out and play the same way every time.

I think we will do all right whoever we match up against. There is not any other team we don't really think we can't beat.

Johnstone said one of things the team will focus on for the next series is getting an early lead.

"We like to play with the lead and it seems like our second periods are our weaker ones," he said.

"We really have to come out flying and get a couple of goals usually in a game and once we do that I think we are all right."

In other rec hockey league action, Yukon Appliance played two offensively strong periods to get the victory over the Terra Firma Muckers in the 'A' Division playoff game.

Yukon Appliance scored five goals in the first period and added three more in the second frame.

The team benefited from balanced scoring and had eight players register at least one point and four who contributed at least one goal.

With the loss, the Muckers are officially eliminated from the 2008 recreational hockey league playoffs after dropping their previous game in the series by a score of 9-2.

Yukon Appliance 8, Terra Firma Muckers 4

Erik Kositsin led the way in overall team points for Yukon Appliance, scoring an impressive two goals and adding two assists, while Jason Berkers contributed two goals and one assist.

Wyatt Drift got in on the scoring with one goal and two assists, while Rob Wells and Joe Martin each scored once and tallied one assist.

The remaining scorer on the team was Mike Cozens, while Cary Goodman and Pat Kenny each added an assist in the victory.

Scorers on Terra Firma included Jeff Bond, Rene LaPierre, Doug Cote and Brian Douglas.

Other notables on the team included Hugo Bergeron, Dave Hart, Nathan Dumont, Steve Israel and Alain Desrocher, who each contributed an assist in the loss.