The Six Nations Chiefs proved Monday they can earn a win without bringing their best game to the floor.

The Chiefs may have opened their best-of-seven series against the Ajax-Pickering Rock with an 8-6 win in the Major Series Lacrosse playoffs at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena, but coach Rich Kilgour said they would need to improve as the series progressed.

“We came out with our playoff faces on in the first period, but Ajax packed in their defence after that,” Kilgour said. “This is playoffs and I’ll take a win any day, but we need to maintain our game face for 60 minutes.”

The Chiefs came out strong in the first period, allowing an early goal before answering with four of their own.

However, Kilgour said their strong offence in the first pushed his players into cruise mode in the second, which gave the Rock a chance to close the gap to 6-4 by the end of the second.

While the Chiefs were intent on driving the ball quickly down the floor and then taking time to set up strong scoring chances, the Rock took a different approach and relied heavily on quick transitions and counter attacks.

The Rock had some strong chances to take the lead in the second, but Chiefs goalie Jake Henhawk held firm in net for most of the period.

The Chiefs opened the third with an early goal before the Rock fired back with two of their own within three minutes, closing the gap to 7-6 in the Chiefs favour.

The home team advanced their lead to 8-6 with a goal midway through the third, a lead they were able to maintain.

Their goals were scored by Colin Doyle, Tom Montour, Kim Squire (2), Roger Vyse, Rob Marshall and Delby Powless (2).

The Chiefs next home game is Thursday at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena at 8 p.m.