AUSTIN, Minn. – It wasn’t deja vu, but for the second straight night, the Austin Bruins fell to the Aberdeen Wings by a final score of 3-1 at Riverside Arena.
The Aberdeen Wings have scored the game’s first goal in 22 of their games this season and made it 23 on Friday night. It only took two minutes and 45 seconds for the visitors to take the 1-0 lead. A net-mouth scramble on a broken play led to an odd bounce that allowed Wings forward Thomas Manty to net his 12th goal of the season.
After being held to just four shots in the second period, the Bruins came out with vigor in the third. While on the power-play, they tied the game midway through the third. Travis Shoudy rifled a shot from the left point that sailed over the shoulder of Aberdeen netminder Jake Sibell to bring the score to 1-1. Later in the third, Aberdeen struck back with a power-play goal of their own to regain the lead. Spencer Schneider scored his second goal in as many games when he found a rebound to the left of the cage and slammed it past Tyler Shea for the 2-1 Aberdeen lead. In the final minute of the third period, the Wings added an empty netter to take their lead to 3-1 and seal the game.
With the loss, the Bruins fall to 7-12-2-2 on the season while the Wings improve to 25-1-0-1 on the year. Tyler Shea shouldered the loss despite managing to fight off 32 of 24 shots from the Wings. Jake Sibell earned his league-leading 23rd win by stopping 21 of 22 Bruins’ chances in the game. Austin’s power-play was once again successful against the league’s top-ranked penalty-kill going 1-for-5 while holding Aberdeen to 1-for-4 with the man advantage.
Up next for the Bruins, they begin a three-in-three on Thursday night against the Chippewa Steel in Wisconsin before heading to Cloquet to do battle with the Wilderness and finally wrapping up the weekend at home against Wilderness for a second time. Tickets for the Bruins’ next home game on Saturday, February 20, 2021, are on sale now by visiting www.austinbruins.com/single-game-tickets.
