It comes down to this weekend

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

It all comes down to this weekend.

A stunning third period comeback by the Moncton Wildcats on Wednesday night has produced a three-way tie in the QMJHL's New Brunswick round-robin playoff tournament. Three games remain and all will be played this weekend.

The winner of the tournament advances to play the Charlottetown Islanders in the Maritimes Division final. The winner of the division final will travel to Quebec to play in the league semifinals and, potentially, the league final.

The Wildcats, Saint John Sea Dogs and Acadie-Bathurst Titan all have 2-2 records heading into action this weekend. Each club has two games remaining.

Friday: Sea Dogs at Titan

Saturday: Wildcats at Titan

Sunday: Sea Dogs at Wildcats

If we've learned anything in the restart it's that any result is possible. As weird as this playoff format is, the fact that it's producing "must-win" games in its final weekend is awesome.

The Titan will no doubt be looking to produce a much more complete effort on Friday against Saint John. Bathurst controlled much of the first half of Wednesday's game in Moncton but slowly let things slip away. Jacob Hudson tied the game at 18:21 of the third and former Sea Dogs forward Connor Richard put Moncton in front 16 seconds later. The 'Cats added an empty netter to make it a 5-3 final.

As for the Maritimes Division final, there are certainly some questions around the logistics of how that will be played. The Charlottetown Islanders seem confident they'll be hosting at least three games, announcing ticket packages and a new socially distanced seating chart that will allow more fans into Eastlink Centre.

In an interview on Sportsnet's 31 Thoughts podcast released Monday, QMJHL commissioner Gilles Courteau also sounded confident that travel restrictions will not get in the way.

"We had a meeting with PEI public health two days ago and we asked them if it was still okay to bring the New Brunswick winner of the round-robin to play PEI," Courteau said, adding that the visiting team will isolate in a hotel when not at the rink and teams will be tested before games.

"PEI public health's response was 'yeah, no problem.' Everybody really appreciates our return to play protocols and the measures that we've had in place since the start of the season so they don't see any issue."

Fingers crossed no issues pop up over the next few weeks and this Maritimes Division final can be played in the Maritimes.

The QMJHL announced Thursday the Quebec-based quarterfinals along with the league semifinals and final will all be played at Quebec City's Videotron Centre.