BISMARCK, ND – It would take a little under three hours and eight rounds of a shootout, but the Bruins would be coming back to Austin with 4 points in the standings and a weekend sweep of the Bobcats.
After taking a 5-3 win on Friday night, the Bruins looked to pick up a win on Saturday in Bismarck. 7:17 into the 1st period, Drew Holt would light the lamp first for the Bobcats for his 3rd goal of the season to give Bismarck the early 1-0 lead. A little over seven minutes later, Walter Zacher would sneak one past CJ Kier to tie the game up at 1-1. Dylan Cook and Matt Desiderio would draw the assist on Zacher’s 7th goal of the season.
It would take over eight minutes into the second period until we would see the next goal as Ocean Wallace would get his first of the season on a Chad Thomas Thrivent Finacial Power Play to give the Bruins a then 2-1 lead. In the closing thirty seconds of the period, Vertti Jantunen would get a break-out feed from Patrick Johnson to beat Trent Wiemken backdoor to tie the game back up at 2-2.
The 3rd period would be a big showing for both team’s goalies and Wiemken and Kier would both come up with multiple key saves to keep the game tied and force overtime in Bismarck. Five minutes of 3-on-3 overtime would also prove to not be enough as for the fifth time this season, the Bruins would find themselves in a shootout. With goals from Gavin Morrissey and Damon Furuseth, Jantunen would have a chance to extend the night for the Bobcats as he would ultimately sneak one past Wiemken to keep the shootout going. Four rounds later, Matt Desiderio would find his chance to give the Bruins back the lead. Desiderio would slide a shot past Kier to put pressure on Drew Holt for Bismarck. With the game on the line, Holt’s shootout attempt would be denied by Wiemken to seal the sweep and a 3-2 victory for Austin.
Up next, the Bruins continue their road trip as they head to Aberdeen to take on the Wings next weekend. Both Friday and Saturday nights games are slated to start at 7:10 PM CST.
