LA CROSSE, WI – The Bruins never trailed on Saturday night, as five different forwards found the back of the net and Jake Kucharski made 31 stops in a 5-2 road win against the Coulee Region Chill.
A late first period goal by Evan Cholak got the scoring started and was the only tally of the first 20 minutes. With less than 90 seconds to play, Jason Koehn set up Cholak with a nifty backhand pass from high-to-low and Cholak elevated the puck over Coulee goaltender Artur Pavliukov.
In the second, the Chill tied the game early when Phil Erickson jammed home a rebound from a Larry Jungwirth chance. The game was only tied for about four minutes as AJ Drobot restored the Austin lead at 7:09, collecting an arrant Charlie Spetz shot and backhanding it over Pavliukov. 2-1 was the score through two periods.
At 5:59 of the third, the Bruins opened up their first two goal lead when Tanner DuFault led a 2-on-1 and ripped a wrister in for his first goal of the season. The Chill would get back to within one on a power play goal by defenseman Shay Donovan that came with some controversy as the Bruins net was dislodged. At 15:46 after the teams traded chances off the rush, Justin Misiak took a brilliant pass from Jon Richards and put the move on Pavliukov making it 4-2. Captain Travis Kothenbeutel would add an empty netter to bring the final to 5-2. Kucharski’s win was his third of the season, while Pavliukov made 34 saves in a losing effort. The Bruins win at Green Island Ice Arena was their fourth in five trips to La Crosse since the start of last season.
The Bruins return home to Riverside Arena to begin a five game home stand on Friday and Saturday night against the Minot Minotauros. Tickets are on sale now at Hy-Vee, Jim’s Marketplace, Games People Play, and the Holiday Inn and Austin Conference Center for $4 off the door price.
