One night after overcoming a big shot differential, the Aberdeen Wings were unable to pull off the same feat again Saturday night.
Austin took advantage of a breakaway opportunity in the third period to fuel a 3-2 North American Hockey League victory at the Odde Ice Center. As a result, the Bruins were able to leap frog Aberdeen into third place in the Central Division standings with two regular-season games remaining.
Austin, which outshot the Wings 40-25 in an overtime loss Friday night, outshot Aberdeen 40-22 and set the tone with a barrage of goals early in the contest.
“They were really good in the first. The put us on our heels and forced us to really try to find our game there in the second and we did that, and obviously, took a bad penalty and they tied it up,” said Wings coach Scott Langer. “And then obviously in the third we make one mistake and they get a breakaway, and that’s the difference in the game.”
After the Bruins had taken a 1-0 lead in the second period, Aberdeen scored two goals exactly one minute apart to jump in front. Nikolai Tishkevish scored off an assist from Matt Wisener and Leonid Bulgakov to tie the game, before Bulgakov scored on assist from Simon Pollock and Jibber Kuhl to put Aberdeen in front.
However, a penalty led to an Austin power play moments later where the visitors tied the game.
The score remained deadlocked until the Bruins got a breakaway and ended up scoring the eventual game-winner with just over 13 minutes remaining.
The contest marked the second straight night that Wings goalie Adam Dybal faced 40 shots against the Bruins.
“It’s always like that against Austin. They’re trying to shoot from everywhere on ice, especially in the first two periods,” Dybal said. “I don’t think we gave up a lot of grade A chances in the first two periods, so that helped. It was a lot of shots from the wall, so that helped a lot.”
Dybal ended up making 75 saves in the weekend series and helped to keep the Wings in both contests.
“He’s the reason why we’re in the games,” Langer said. “We’re giving a lot up on their power plays and not seeming to generate a whole lot of opportunity in their end, but we do get timely scoring, which obviously keeps us in the games.”
While Bulgakov added to his team-leading goal total, he said the Wings need to produce more goals to help out Dybal.
“Our goalie did an incredible job tonight,” Bulgakov said. “We had our moments. We have to score more. That’s the problem.”
In the end, the Bruins had one golden opportunity in the final period and they took advantage of it.
“It came down to one mistake in the third period,” Langer said. “That was the difference maker. It’s unfortunate that we wasted an effort by our goaltender.”
The Wings still control their own destiny when comes to playoffs. They have two games at North Iowa, which was eliminated from playoff contention a while ago. Meanwhile, Austin faces St. Cloud for two games as they battle with the Wings for the last two remaining playoff spots.
“It’s our last chance for the playoffs,” Bulgakov said of next weekend’s series against North Iowa.
Because Austin and St. Cloud play each other, if the Wings win their two games they will be in the playoffs.
“We got lucky that Austin and St. Cloud are playing against each other next week,” Dybal said. “We have to make sure that we secure those four points.”
Langer said it all starts with the first game on Friday night.
“We just have to worry about the first one,” Langer said. “(Austin) and St. Cloud play each other and hopefully they’ll do us a favor. It’s a hard place to play at North Iowa.”
While the playoffs don’t start for another two weeks, these last handful of regular-season games have certainly taken on a playoff tone.
“These are the games that we play hockey for,” Dybal said of the electric atmosphere. “I think all of us are enjoying these games, it’s just pretty unfortunate today that we lost a game.”
To see a complete box score of the contest, click on the following link:
