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The Austin Bruins couldn’t overcome a major slump in the middle of the game as they lost to the Aberdeen Wings 6-5 in Riverside Arena Friday.

After trailing 6-3 early in the third period, the Bruins (18-14-1-0 overall) scored twice in the last seven minutes of the game to pull within a goal, but they couldn’t net the equalizer. Jackson Luther scored his second goal of the season with 6:57 left in the game for Austin and Austin Salani scored his 18th goal with 3:36 left.

The Bruins had a power play in the late minutes, but it wasn’t enough.

“We’re finding ways to lose right now instead of finding ways to win,” Austin head coach Steve Howard said. “I liked our push back, but we shouldn’t be chasing the game and giving up six goals.”

It looked like the Bruins were well on their way to a win in the first period when Damon Furuseth scored to give Austin a 2-1 lead, but Grant Winkler answered with a goal for the Wings to tie the game at 2-2.

Austin had a power play early in the second period, however, Leonid Bulgakov scored a power play goal and Aberdeen (17-14-2-2 overall) scored two more goals over the next 12 minutes to take a 5-2 lead.

“Our veterans that we have this year are struggling to make plays when we need them to make plays and they’re struggling to make the right decision when we need them to make the right decision,” Howard said. “(Jack) Malinski and (Gavin) Morrissey who were two of the smartest players to ever wear a Bruins uniform aren’t here anymore and we’re asking guys to step up. We’re just starting to realize that we might need to make a few changes.”

Trent Wiemken stopped eight of 12 shots for Austin and Logan Rose stopped 24 of 26 shots in relief.

SCORING SUMMARY

Aberdeen 2 3 1  –  6

Austin 2 1 2  –  5

First period

(A) Dylan Cook (Alex Laurenza, Austin Salani) 8:38

(AB) Matthew Wisener (Kid Vahakangas, Adam Dybal) 10:27

(A) Damon Furuseth (Nikita Koneyvch, Austin Salani) 14:50

(AB) Grant Winkler 17:57

Second period

(AB) Leonid Bulgakov 5:03

(AB) Matthew Wisener (Drew Mackie, Grant Winkler) 6:04

(AB) Logan Gravink (Drew Mackie, Kie Vahakangas 17:44

(A) Alex Laurenza (Dylan Cook, Ocean Wallace) 18:08

Third period

(AB) Jibber Kuhl (Bennett Koupal) 10:54

(A) Jackson Luther (Landon Dauner, Dylan Cook) 13:03

(A) Austin Salani (Furuseth, Dylan Cook) 16:34