Once again, a strong finish was unable to undo a rough start for the Aberdeen Wings.

Bismarck scored the game’s first four goals and regained home-ice advantage with a 4-2 NAHL Central Division playoff victory at the Odde Ice Center Friday night, taking a 2-1 series lead.

As has been the case in the first three games of the series, Bismarck outshot the Wings in the first period with Aberdeen playing stronger as the game went on. The Wings have outscored the Bobcats 6-0 in the three combined third periods, but Friday night, the deficit was too large to overcome with the visitors scoring four unanswered goals to set the tone.

“I think the first three are the ones that killed us, especially the way they were scored,” said Aberdeen coach Scott Langer. “We broke down and they found a way to put it in the back of the net, which gives them a bunch of momentum and excitement, and they played like that throughout the game. But I thought our second and third were pretty good. We just couldn’t get close enough to get the game tied.”

The Wings got on the board in the second period when Briggs Orr took a pass from Cooper Anderson and fired a rocket from just inside the blue line that found the back of the net.

“We had some sustained zone time. We were in there for a while,” Orr said. “I had a shot blocked before. In the first period I had missed a big chance, too.”

This time Orr did not miss, ripping a shot that got past the goalie.

“Coop and I have a lot of chemistry and we were just working up top,” Orr said. “He gave it back to me. We’ve done that play a lot, so I just unloaded it.”

Orr described the emotion of burying a puck like that.

“That’s a fun feeling,” he said. “I was hoping that was going to be the jump start for a little comeback.”

The goal did get the crowd into the game, and energized the Wings, but they weren’t able to capitalize on it the rest of the second period, including having a goal nullified on a kicking call.

Aberdeen inched closer on a third-period goal from David Hruby.

“We needed a goal. It was a tight game,” Hruby said. “I’m glad I scored a goal, just going to the net. It was worth it, so I’m happy.”

The Wings, who outshot Bismarck 34-26, had numerous other chances throughout the game, but were hampered by special teams, giving up a pair of power play goals and not taking advantage of their own power play chances.

“That’s why the game went to them. You’ve got to do better on your penalty kill and you got to take opportunity on your power play,” Langer said. “At this time of the year, you’re not going to get a ton of them. Anybody that knows the game knows that we lost that game because of special teams.”

The Wings will try to change that for tonight’s game four, set for 7:15.

“We got to get better in special teams, penalty kill, power play. … We’ve got to come (Saturday) and focus on the special teams,” Hruby said.

The Wings will also try to get off to a better start against the Bobcats.

“We’ve been trying to pound that all year,” Orr said. “Honestly, that’s been one of our major struggles, starting on time. … Playoffs will show you where your weaknesses are. … We really got to hammer that, find out where we went wrong and change it for (Saturday).”

Down 2-1, the Wings need to win this evening to keep their season alive and force a game five Monday night in Bismarck.

“Win or go home. I think we’ve got to embrace that,” Orr said. “The whole year it’s just been game after game. … If we don’t perform, if we show up like we did in the first period (Friday), we’re going home.”

The Wings know the talent that they possess and know what will be at stake when they take to the ice this evening.

“We’re a good hockey team. We’re good players,” Hruby said. “We’ve just got to calm down, sleep good and (Saturday is) a new day and new game, and we’ve got this.”

To see a complete box score, click on the following link:

https://www.aberdeenwings.com/game-center/?game_id=2869669&season_id=14810