The Bradford Rattlers snatched the dream of a playoff title from the South Muskoka Shield Sunday night and left the dark knights with a goose egg instead.

Game five at Bob Fallis Sports Centre Sunday saw the Rats hand the Shield the second shutout in the 4-1 series, delaying the Shield’s pursuit of the Russell Cup for another year.

After three periods and only four penalties, the Rattlers closed the game with an empty-net goal and one second remaining on the scoreboard clock that read 3-0 for the home team.

Coach Jeff Stack said the Shield did not come out skating as well as usual.

“We just didn’t have our legs going as well as we should have, which meant we couldn’t muster any real offensive threats,” he said. “There were some opportunities on power plays that we just couldn’t finish.”

But the Shield gave the Rats a run for their money during game four at Gravenhurst Centennial Centre Saturday night when the Shield offence squeaked out a 6-5 winner in a back-and-forth scoring game.

The Shield looked more disciplined than Friday night’s game when the team ceded six power-play goals to the Rats in a 10-6 defeat, serving only 10 penalty minutes against Bradford’s 20 minutes.

Returning to the Shield’s lineup that night from a two-game fighting suspension was forward Nick Leigh who put up the first marker of the game, assisted by defenceman turned forward Will Rinaldi.

Rinaldi followed suit less than six minutes later to break a 1-1 tie with help from forwards Travis Saltz and Dylan Sontag.

The Shield took the lead in the first half of the second period with an unassisted goal by forward Troy Storm and a power-play point from Saltz, with defenceman Jesse Goheen and Storm assisting on the play.

Bradford put up two more to trail 4-3 at the end of the second frame, and tied it up after playing 8:20 of the third.

Thirty seconds later, the Shield jumped ahead again with a goal from forward Jordan Singor, assisted by Saltz and forward Chad Meagher, who was injured in game three Friday night when Rattlers goalie Andreas Goetz swung his stick at Meagher’s head.

Captain Chris Vandertas notched another power-play goal for the Shield with Saltz assisting. Bradford trimmed the Shield’s 6-5 victory with a last-ditch goal at 19:34.

Game three, the first of two Shield home games, saw the mostly European Rattlers squad capitalize on six Shield penalties with power-play goals. Three more escaped goalie Ryan Coté and backup goalie Eric Pye failed to stop the 10th marker.

Forward Matt Mohan scored the first Shield goal. Vandertas and Storm recorded two points each and Garrett Hamel tallied the sixth goal for South Muskoka.

Coach Stack was ejected from the game with 1:36 to play after arguing with the official about a tripping penalty charged to the Shield.

Stack said in his mind there are some “issues” with officiating, which he hopes the team owners will address over the summer.

He said Ryan Coté, the 20-year-old goalie from North Bay who started every playoff game and finished most of them, leaves the Greater Metro Hockey League this year due to age restrictions, as does Rinaldi. Rinaldi has been made an offer to attend an Eastern U.S. school in the fall.

“Coté played great. He played better than I had ever seen him play,” said Stack. “He was off one game, but I believe he played his best game Sunday night. If it hadn’t been for him, the Rattlers would have blown us out 8-0.”

Stack said the Shield would be gathering to celebrate the season Tuesday night at a goodbye party.