The Austin Bruins were up to the challenge.

With Aberdeen right on their heels headed into the weekend, the Bruins locked up their second straight NAHL Central Division title by sweeping Bismarck after they beat the Bobcats 4-1 Saturday.

Nick Lehr stopped 30 shots in the win for Austin and Scott Nelson, Guillame Leclerc and Jay Dickman all scored power play goals to get the offense rolling in the first two periods.

As it turned out, Austin (40-19-1 overall) had to win both of games against Bismarck to win the division as Aberdeen (38-18-4 overall) won its last two games to finish just one point behind Austin.

Austin’s 81 points this season are the fifth most by any team in the NAHL.

Top seeded Austin will open up its first round NAHL Central playoff matchup against No. 4 seeded Minot this Friday and Saturday at Riverside Arena at 7:05 p.m. The teams will play a five-game series, so the first squad to three wins will advance to the NAHL Central Finals, which is where Austin’s season in its last two seasons.

Aberdeen is the No. 2 seed and Bismarck is the No. 3 seed in the NAHL Central playoffs.

SCORING SUMMARY

Austin 2 2 0 – 4

Bismarck 1 0 0 – 1

First period

(A) Scott Nelson (power play) Niko Hildenbrand, Josh Bretner) 5:48

(A) Guillaume Leclerc (power play) (Bretner, Austin Nelson) 10:23

(B) Nathan Flynn (Ryan Callahan, Matt Anders) 19:12

Second period

(A) Jay Dickman (power play) (Bretner, Lucas Kohls) 11:20

(A) Drew Anderson (Eli May, Luke Dietsch) 19:19

Shots: Austin – 23; Bismarck – 31

Power plays: Austin – 3-for-6; Bismarck – 0-for-4