With just nine games remaining on their schedule, every point counts for the Austin Bruins as they try to claw their way out of last place in the NAHL Central and seize one of the four available playoff spots.

The Bruins were able to pick up one point as they lost 4-3 in a shootout to the Bismarck Bobcats in Riverside Arena Friday.

The Bobcats went 1-for-3 in the shootout and Austin (20-25-2-4 overall) missed on all three of its shootout attempts. Bismarck (24-25-1-1 overall) had tied the game at 3-3 when Mitchel Walinski scored early in the third period.

“I thought it was a pretty competitive game. It ended up being a one shot game and it’s tough to lose in a shootout, but it’s fought to complain. We did a lot of nice things tonight,” Austin head coach Kyle Grabowski said. “It just comes down to bounces and goaltending. Every game is tight and that’s the way it is this time of year.”

Austin had jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period when Jack Murphy and Jon Richards scored and the Bruins took a 3-2 lead when Jan Stefka created a turnover and connected on a slap shot in the second period.

Jake Kucharski had 16 saves in the loss for Austin.

SCORING SUMMARY

Bismarck 0  2  1  0  1  —  4

Austin 2  1  0  0  0  —  3

First period

(A) Jack Murphy (Travis Kothenbeutel, AJ Drobot) :51

(A) Jon Richards (Justin Misiak, Cole Lawrence) 12:30

Second period

(B) Tristan Ashbrook (Zach Kennedy, Tanner Vescio) 1:44

(B) Matthew Berry (Tobias Fladeby, Jiei Halliday) 12:28

(A) Jan Stefka (Jason Koehn) 13:55

Third period

(B) Mitchell Walinski (Michael Mahan) 2:35

OT

No scoring

Shots: Austin — 24; Bismarck — 19

Power plays: Austin — 0-for-2; Bismarck — 0-for-3