The Aeros gave up a three-goal lead and then scored three goals in a three-minute span during the third period to ease to an 8-4 victory over the Brockville Tikis in Rideau-St. Lawrence Junior B Hockey League playoff action at the Memorial Centre on Wednesday night.

The Aeros now lead the best-of-seven matchup 3-1 and can wrap up the series at Centre 76 tonight at 7:30.

The Aeros jumped off to a 3-0 lead in the first eight minutes of the game.

Then they went into one of their fogs that just mystifies the Aeros' management to allow the Tikis to come back and tie it up 4-4 in the third period.

After that, the Aeros scored three times in less than three minutes to ensure the win.

It was a rollercoaster kind of game with both teams taking turns at gaining the momentum.

"We scored that powerplay goal and then we just lost our focus for a few minutes and they (Aeros) took advantage of it," said Tikis head coach Adam Folco.

In the third period, trailing 4-3, the Tikis' Brayden Krusch scored on a powerplay at 3:45.

It looked as if the Tikis had a chance to pull out the game and tie the series.

Then, the Aeros exploded.

At 4:25, Pat Cameron finished off a two-on-one break to make the game 5-4.

At 6:41, Nick Douvris sent a wrist shot from the blueline through a jumble of bodies and it got past a screened Ryan Bishop.

At 6:57, Andrew Warren's low point shot was deflected over Bishop's glove hand by Justin Mayo.

"We played alright. We just had letdowns at the wrong time in the game," said Folco. "You can't give those guys any opportunities. They will put the puck in the net."

All of a sudden, a 4-4 game had become 7-4.

"That just lightened up the whole bench. It relieves tension when you score and we're a scoring team," said Dancy of the goal by Cameron to make it 5-4.

The Aeros showed that flash in the first eight minutes.

Cameron scored on a powerplay at 2:12. Keegan Rowe made it 2-0 at 5:03 and Cameron scored from behind the Brockville net at 8:25 to end the night for goaltender Ethan Wright.

The Tikis didn't get their first shot on net until there was six minutes remaining in the period.

Then, the Tikis took control over that last six minutes while the Aeros relaxed.

Tikis' Mike Halladay tipped a shot past Aeros goalie Randy Yee at 17:06 to make it 3-1.

Brett Jackson chipped out the puck at the Brockville blueline, held off an Athens defenceman, and scored at 19:35 to make it 3-2.

The Tikis had outshot the Aeros 10-0 in the last six minutes of the period.

"The first period seemed like two different games. The first 10 minutes was ours. The last 10 minutes was theirs," said Dancy. "That's the unfortunate part of Jr. B hockey. It's so back and forth, it's unbelievable. We let them back in the game."

Early in the second period, the Tikis hit two goalposts and Yee robbed Robert Rice from in close.

Right after the Tikis killed off a two-man advantage, the Aeros scored on another powerplay with Mayo making it 4-2.

At 18:16, Shane Melcher's backhand closed the gap to 4-3.

At this point, the Tikis were outshooting the Aeros 23-19.

With 43 seconds left in the period, Yee stopped Tikis' Brody Darling on a two-on-one with a good body save.

That set the stage for the frantic third period.

Cameron finished off the scoring for the Aeros, his fourth goal of the night, to go with one assist.

Daniel Lacroix had three assists while Steve Parker and Kyle Drisdelle each had two assists for the Aeros.

Jeremy Nichols and Rice had two assists apiece for the Tikis, who ended up outshooting the Aeros 32-30 after falling behind 12-0 in the early stages.

Game five in the series is tonight.

"That's definitely what we're looking at going into that game. We definitely want to finish it off in our rink if we can," said Dancy.

If the Aeros can't, that means game six is back in Brockville on Saturday night at 7:30.