Bruins use fast start to bring down Mallards on Veteran’s Night
Published 10:16 pm Friday, November 15, 2024
The Bruins’ Evan Malkhassian, left, celebrates his second period goal with teammate Alex Laurenza against the Minnesota Mallards Friday night at Riverside Arena. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
The Bruins’ Alex Laurenza tracks the puck alongside the boards during the second period against the Minnesota Mallards Friday night in Riverside Arena. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
Austin’s Jackson Rilei, right, and the Minnesota Mallards’ Will Emerson (86) collide along the boards during the first period Friday night at Riverside Arena. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
The Bruins’ Gavin Hruza sends the puck inwards during the second period Friday night in Riverside Arena against the Minnesota Mallards. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
The Bruins’ Luck Malkhassian looks toward the net in the second period against the Minnesota Mallards Friday night in Riverside Arena. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
The Bruins Ludvig Mellgren controls the puck up top during a power play against the Minnesota Mallards Friday night at Riverside Arena. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
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The Austin Bruins scored four times in the first 15 minutes of the game and they didn’t let up as they brought down the Minnesota Mallards (6-12-0-1 overall) 7-1 on Veteran’s Night in Riverside Arena Friday night.
The Bruins (10-5-0-1 overall) gave a proper salute to veterans late in the game when Gavin Hruza scored to make it 6-1 in the third period. Hruza’s grandpa and uncle both served in the National Guard.
“It’s pretty cool to score on a night where we’re celebrating a really important holiday,” Hruza said. “Without them, we wouldn’t be here with our freedom.”
Hruza, a first year forward from West Fargo, North Dakota, now has five goals and eight assists on the season.
Austin has now won three games in a row and head coach Steve Howard was especially proud of how his team started off Friday’s game. Tyler Shaver put Austin ahead 1-0 just four minutes into the game and the Bruins never looked back.
“We just wanted to be consistent. We’ve been playing some pretty good hockey lately and we wanted to have a fast start,” Howard said. “Starts have been kind of an achilles heel for us this year and we wanted to have a good first five minutes. We scored early and then the guys kept going.”
Alex Laurenza, who is from Woodbridge, Ontario, scored his 11th and 12 goals of the season in the first period for Austin and he added two assists to give him 17 assists on the season. Laurenza said the Bruins were all about business from the opening puck drop on Friday.
“We came in prepared and everyone knew what their job was. We had a gameplan and we executed it really well,” Laurenza said. “We got off to a good start in the first period and it carried through to the whole game. We have a great group of guys with a common goal to win and it showed tonight.”
Jake Spraetz scored his first NAHL goal in the third period for Austin and Devin Rustile had 19 saves in net.
The NAHL season is always a grind and the Bruins know there will be many twists and turns ahead. While the team has played well early, Howard said there will still need to be improvement.
“In our division, it’s more of a chess match,” Howard said. “A lot of coaches in our division have different systems and different styles of play. Throughout the year you kind of have to keep evolving.”
SCORING SUMMARY
Mallards 0 1 0 – 1
Bruins 4 1 2 – 7
First period
(A) Tyler Shaver (Nathan Williams, Augustus Elbert) 4:16
(A) Alex Laurenza (EJ Paddington, Luc Malkassian) 5:22
(A) Laurenza (Ryan Lund, Malkassian) 12:49
(A) Emil Samuelsson (Ludvig Mellgren) 14:45
Second period
(M) Trey Gnetz (Theodore Manlove, Jules Delepoulle) 5:34
(A) Evan Malkhassian (Laurenza, Tyler Shaver) 20:00
Third period
(A) Gavin Hruza (Laurenza, Nathan Williams) 3:41
(A) Jake Spraetz (Samuelsson, Malkhassian) 9:08
