AUSTIN, Minn. – Ben Alquist scored a pair of goals while assisting on another, while Kyle McClellan made 25 as the Bruins took down the Aberdeen Wings 4-2 on Pucks and Paws night at Riverside Arena.
The scoring got started early in this one but unlike Friday night, it was the black-and-gold who got on the board first. Dante Sheriff was able to poke the puck through traffic and beat Wings goalie Matt Vernon through the legs. Neither team was able to best either netminder through the rest of the period and the Bruins headed to the locker room with the lead 1-0.
In the second, the Bruins took their first two-goal lead of the night when Ben Almquist found the back of the net on the power-play to make it 2-0 Austin. Down a pair, Aberdeen tried to claw back and was successful in cutting the lead in half to 2-1 after Stepan Pokorny beat Kyle McClellan for the first Wings goal of the night. During a hectic second period, Jared Christy was able to draw a penalty-shot but head coach Steve Howard opted for the traditional man-advantage and the Bruins cashed in immediately. Almquist, hovering in the right-wing circle fired one below the dot that sped past Vernon for the 3-1 Bruins lead.
Out of the gate in the third, the Bruins increased their lead to 4-1 when Kyle Herbster fed a beautiful pass across the slot to Reggie Millette who made no mistake about finding the top-shelf for his third goal of the season. With the largest deficit of the night on their hands, Aberdeen once again cut the lead down to two goals, 4-2, but couldn’t get anything else past McClellan as the Bruins rode out the rest of the third period and earned the victory.
The win for the Bruins was their first of the season against the Aberdeen Wings and helped them improve to 27-16-0-6. For Aberdeen, they fall to 37-9-2-1 on the year and have already clinched their spot in the Robertson Cup Playoffs.
The Bruins are back on home ice on Friday, March 8, for Superhero and Princess Night at Riverside Arena. Tickets for Friday’s game against the Brookings Blizzard go on sale Monday, March 4 at all the Bruins vendors including Games People Play, Hy-Vee, Holiday Inn, and Jim’s Marketplace.
