Magicians strike late to beat Bruins
Published 10:00 pm Friday, March 23, 2018
- Austin’s Travis Kothenbeutel watches his second-period shot against the Minnesota Magicians Friday night in Riverside Arena. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
With the playoffs closing in on the Austin Bruins, the games are getting more and more important as the Austin Bruins are looking to lock up the No. 2 seed.
The Bruins had a chance to gain some ground but they couldn’t make good on some early chances in a 3-0 loss to the Minnesota Magicians in Riverside Arena Friday.
Austin’s Jaden Shields plays the puck along the boards against the Magicians in the second period in Riverside Arena Friday night. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
Mads Soogard stopped the first 20 shots he saw in net for Austin, but the Magicians finally got past him when Carter Wagner scored on a put-back in transition make it a 1-0 Magician lead with 2:26 left in the game. The Magicians (27-20-5-2 overall) added two more empty net goals in the last two minutes to ice the game.
“It’s tough, but we’ve just got to get over it and get back at it tomorrow,” Soogard said. “We don’t like that we lost this game, but we’ve got another game tomorrow. We want to do our best to get home-ice in the playoffs and get as many points as possible.”
The Bruins (28-18-4-4 overall) had some great opportunities early on as they out-shot the Magicians 16-7 in the first period, but they weren’t able to cash in on some good looks.
“That’s hockey. You’ve got to finish and they get one crashing the net,” Austin head coach Steve Howard said. “That’s sometimes what you’ve got to have, you’ve got to get a dirty goal. We had some chances up in front. We had some good looks, tips and rebounds, but unfortunately their goalie played well and stopped all of our shots.”
Austin’s Xander Lamppa jabs the puck away from the Magicians’ Andrew Kruse during the second period Friday night at Riverside Arena. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
Austin, which has clinched a postseason berth, has a three-point lead on the third place Minnesota Wilderness in the NAHL Central with six games remaining in the regular season.
“There’s no safety net anymore with the Wilderness,” Howard said. “We’ve got to make sure we try to seal up home ice advantage and the guys played hard. I liked the guys’ effort tonight, but I didn’t like how loose we were in giving up some odd man rushes. Our back brusher needs to be better.”
SCORING SUMMARY
Magicians 0 0 3 — 3
Austin 0 0 0 — 0
First period
No scoring
Second period
No scoring
Third period
(M) Carter Wagner (Andrew Kruse, Dawson Klein) 17:35
(M( Aturas Laukaitis (Bram Sheerer) (empty net) 18:57
(M) Davis Kirkendall (Sheerer) (empty net) 19:35
Shots: Austin — 30; Magicians — 23
Power plays: Austin — 0-for-4; Magicians — 0-for-3
Austin’s Evan Cholak settles the puck in the Magicians’ zone during the second period Friday night in Riverside Arena. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
