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The Austin Bruins struggled from the start as they fell in a hole they couldn’t dig out of in a 2-1 loss to the Minot Minotauros (10-10-1 overall) in Riverside Arena Friday night.

David Nesburg put in a slap shot to give the Minotauros a quick 1-0 lead in the first period and Tom Siccone scored to make it 2-0 early in the second.

After being outshot 18-10 in the second period, Austin (11-6-1-2 overall) cranked out the first nine shots in the first 10 minutes of the third period. That stretch didn’t produce any goals, but the Bruins did get on the scoreboard when Austin Salani scored his third goal of the season with nine minutes left in the third.

Austin never scored again and Minot iced the game with an empty net goal with 33 seconds left in the game.

Austin head coach Steve Howard wants to see his team push harder to create scoring opportunities than it did on Friday.

“The urgency needs to be there, but at the same time we’ve got to score goals. They had two sofft goals and the bottom line is that we’re not getting those second and third opportunities in their zone,” Howard said. “Guys got to work for it and they’ve got to get in the dirty areas in front of the net. It makes their goalie look good when he can see every shot.”

Klayton Knapp had 23 saves for Austin, which had 36 shots on goal.

“We’re nowhere near the net and when we are near the net, we’re standing beside them,” Howard said. “It’s not good enough. Our goalie’s got to be better and forwards have got to be better.”

The game ended with tempers flaring as an eight-player brawl broke out.

SCORING SUMMARY

Minot 1 1 0  –  2

Austin 0 0 1  –  1

First period

(M) David Nesburg (Sam Saccone) 6:29

Second period

(M) Saccone (Tom Friden) 5:09

Third period

(A) Austin Salani (Damon Furuseth, Sutter Muzzatti) 11:00

(M) Blake Arneson (empty net) 19:28

Shots: Austin – 36; Minot – 26 

Power plays: Austin – 0-for-3; Minot – 0-for-3