The Wallaceburg Lakers rebounded from their first loss of the playoffs to move to within one victory from the Great Lakes Junior ‘C’ Hockey League final.

The Lakers defeated the Dresden Kings 6-1 on Monday at the Lambton-Kent Memorial Arena to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the North Division final.

Wallaceburg can clinch the series and earn a berth in the finals with a win in Game 5 on home ice Wednesday, a 7:30 p.m. face-off.

The Lakers swept the Alvinston Flyers in four straight and won the first two games in the divisional final before their playoff win streak ended at six last Wednesday when the Kings skated to a 3-1 victory in Wallaceburg.

But the Lakers wasted no take taking back control of the series by scoring three times in a span of 4:56 in the first period in Dresden on Monday.

Blain Hopkins started the spree at the 7:01 mark and Dustin Cope made it a 2-0 lead just 68 seconds later.

Wade Pitfield’s power-play goal at 11:57 put the Lakers ahead by three.

Scott Gawne put the Kings on the board at the 12:37 mark, but it proved to be the only shot of Dresden’s 31 on the night to get by Lakers’ goalie Matt Bergland.

Rob Pollock scored the only goal of the second period, a power-play marker.

Pitfield netted his second of the night 2:47 into the third to put Wallaceburg up 5-1.

Norm Leger closed the scoring five minutes later with the Lakers’ third power-play goal of the game.

Joe Jacobs and Tyler Lewis had three assists for the Lakers, who have outscored their two playoff opponents by a combined 51-17 total in eight games.

Eric Steinman, who made 46 saves in Dresden’s Game 3 victory, had 33 saves on Monday as the Lakers held a 39-31 edge in shots.

If Dresden can stave off elimination, they’ll return home to host Game 6 on Friday. If the series goes the limit, Game 7 will be in Wallaceburg on Sunday.

 The South Division final resumes Tuesday in Essex where the five-time defending league champion 73’s are on the ropes, trailing the Belle River Canadiens 3-0.

The 73’s defeated the Kings in the 2009 league final and the Lakers in 2008.