Portage Lake forward Cody Sivonen positions himself in front of Calumet goaltender Tyler Hubbard during the opening game of the Gibson Cup series Thursday at Dee Stadium in Houghton. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

HOUGHTON — For about 26 minutes Thursday night at Dee Stadium, things went about as expected for both the Portage Lake Pioneers and the Calumet Wolverines in the opening game of the Gibson Cup series. The Pioneers led 5-2 and appeared to settle into a groove.

Then Calumet scored three in a row, tying things up at 5-5 going into the final frame.

The Pioneers righted the ship in the third, scoring three goals to skate away with an 8-6 win.

For alternate captain Spencer Donnelly, the Pioneers’ second period struggles were not surprising. Neither was the turnaround for the third.

“We’ve had a lot of second periods this year where we come out flat like that,” he said. “The best part about our team is we come in the locker room after the second, and all year, we’ve said it almost every game, ‘Third period’s our period.’ We proved that time and time again and continue to get it done.”

Donnelly got the Pioneers on the board first just 5:30 into the game when he got the puck in the right circle and beat Calumet goaltender Tyler Hubbard with a wrist shot over the glove.

“Obviously, it’s awesome to get that first one,” Donnelly said. “I came down and wanted to make a play there. Usually I’m not that much of a shooter, but that ‘D’ (defenseman) just slid right over and kind of gave me all day there. So, awesome to get that first one.”

Donnelly’s second tally came at 16:03, and answered the Wolverines’ second goal. Skating in on a 3-on-2 rush, forward Brett Hauswirth put a pass right on Donnelly’s stick on the right side of the slot, and he beat Hubbard with another wrist shot.

“‘Hausy’ just gave me a beautiful pass,” said Donnelly. “I mean, he saw me hit that seam and made that one easy.”

As big as his smile was at that point, Donnelly’s face changed in the middle frame when he turned over a puck just inside the offensive zone that led to the Wolverines’ second goal in a minute and a half. Forward Dylan Boberg stole the puck from him, and skated all the way to the other end of the rink alone, wristing a puck past Pioneers goaltender A.J. Petrulis and cutting Portage Lake’s lead at that point to 5-4.

“Well, honestly, that started with me,” Donnelly said. “I had a terrible turnover at the blue line. I should have gotten the puck deep, but tried to get too cute. I gave it up. That kind of led to our demise here in the second.”

Wolverines alternate captain Matthew Yeo started the comeback with his first goal of the game at 6:22 of the second, making it 5-3. He found a soft spot near the net, and took a pass from captain Logan Rastello from below the goal line, which he quickly put under the crossbar.

Then Boberg’s second goal cut the lead to one. Calumet kept the pressure on, and at 10:40, Rastello drove around a defender and wristed one past Petrulis to even things.

Rastello took an early third-period penalty, and the Pioneers took advantage when forward Alec Broetzman found space in the right circle. After faking a shot from the left point, forward Pete Rouleau fed the puck quickly to Broetzman, who wired a quick shot past Hubbard at 1:19.

On another power play, Portage Lake struck again when forward Landon Stevens wristed a puck from the left circle past Hubbart at 9:33. Defenseman Bryce Hanner got the puck over to him for the shot.

Then the Pioneers took a three-goal lead at 13:48 when forward Connor Raffaelli beat Hubbard off a feed from Stevens.

Calumet got one back late with Hubbard pulled for an extra attacker. Yeo scored his second of the night at 19:09 during a goalmouth scramble.

After Donnelly made the score 1-0 in the first period, Boberg evened things for the Wolverines 1:22 later when he got behind the Pioneers’ defense, got a pass, skated in alone and beat Petrulis with a wrist shot.

Portage Lake forward Gaborik Carlson regained the lead for Portage Lake when he buried a pass from Stevens at 8:20. The Pioneers then took a 3-1 lead when forward Dawson McKay redirected a feed from Rouleau past Hubbard at 12:57.

Forward Jackson Sintkowski answered for the Wolverines 58 seconds later off a faceoff to Petrulis’ right.

Hubbard made 40 saves in the loss for the Wolverines. Petrulis stopped 23 to earn the win.

Calumet forward Dylan Boberg carries the puck out of his own end while being pursued by Portage Lake forward Spencer Donnelly during the opening game of the Gibson Cup series Thursday at Dee Stadium in Houghton. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)