Things got a little bit testy in the third period as the Austin Bruins had a three-game winning streak come to an end in a 4-1 loss to the Aberdeen Wings on Military Appreciation night in Riverside Arena Friday.

The Wings (9-4-4-1 overall) held a 2-1 lead headed into the third period when they took advantage of a five-minute major penalty, scoring on a goal by Antonio DiPaolo with 14:33 left in the game.

Just two minutes later, tempers escalated as Austin’s Jed Pietila and head coach Steve Howard were both ejected from the game. Austin was tagged with 11 penalties on the night compared to three penalties called on the Wings, but Howard was mostly upset about the consistency of five-minute major calls.

“On their very first goal they had a cheap shot on one of our guys and I thought we should’ve had a five minute major right there, then we get a five minute major on us in the third,” Howard said. “That’s a tough one to bounce back from, then  they get a goal that bounces off the shin pad (to make it 3-1). It was one of those things where we were trying to get the boys sparked and do whatever we could do to try and get momentum.”

Ben Almquist scored his ninth goal of the season to tie the game at 1-1 in the first for Austin, but Cooper Haar  took the lead back for the Wings when he scored in the second period.

Austin starting goalie Brett Miller was inured just a couple of minutes into the game while reaching to stop a goal that was scored by Connor Beatty of Aberdeen in a put-back. Tyler Shea came into the game in relief and stopped 23 of the 25 shots he saw in net.

“Tyler’s a good goalie. He made some saves for us tonight. The game could’ve got out of hand and I thought he did a great job, especially with all of the penalties that were called against us,” Howard said. “We had to kill all of those off. He did a good job.”

The Bruins (9–7-2 overall) will host Aberdeen again at 7:05 p.m. Saturday.

“I hope we answer,” Howard said. “I hope we come back and jump all over them early and make sure we don’t come out on the losing end.”

SCORING SUMMARY

Aberdeen 1  1  2  —  4

Austin 1  0  0  —  1

First period

(AB) Connor Beatty (Jake Breault) 1:28

(A) Ben Almquist (Dante Sheriff, Cullen Rush) 11:39

Second period

(AB) Cooper Haar (Natan Vertes, Mack Byers) 4:42

Third period

(AB) Antonia DiPaolo (Natan Vertes, Cooper Haar) 5:16

(AB) Vertes (empty net) 18:51

Shots: Austin — 25; Aberdeen — 28

Power plays: Austin — 0-for-3; Aberdeen — 1-for-7