Bruins earn weekend sweep of Bismark Saturday night with 4-3 OT win

Josef Mysak’s second goal of the weekend, scored only 51 seconds into the overtime period completed the weekend sweep for the Austin Bruins as they downed the Bismarck Bobcats 4-3.

For the second straight night the Bruins gave up the game’s first goal, but unlike Friday night, Bismarck was able to get the first two tallies of the evening. A little over six minutes in Austin Jouppi took a blocked shot and beat Bruins goalie Brett Miller. A little over seven minutes Bismarck forward Patrick Johnson, playing in his first NAHL game, slipped through a shot off a rebound and Bismarck took the 2-0 lead to the locker room.

Out of the gate in the second, the Bruins pounced on the Bobcats. Getting the games first power play of the night, Dante Sheriff ripped a wrist-shot from the center point that beat Andrew Miller and the Bruins were within one, 2-1. Bismarck scored the game’s next goal when Willy Stauber launched a shot from the point that found the back of the net, regaining Bismarck’s two-goal lead, 3-1. Austin continued to battle and were able to even things up thanks to two huge goals. The first came off the stick of Hugh Larking who barelled his way into the zone and took two shots from behind the goal line with the second one slipping past Andrew Miller’s outstretched left leg. A few minutes later, Tiernan Shoudy won an offensive zone draw and fed a pass over to Dante Sheriff who was wide-open on the backdoor, slamming home the game-tying goal.

Neither team was able to break the tie in the third period despite the Bruins getting a lengthy four-minute plus power play and Bismarck having a shorthaded 2-on-0 break stopped by Miller, so to overtime the two teams went. In the extra period, it only took 51 seconds for Josef Mysak to send the Bruins to victory. The third year Bruin and recent Niagara University commit slipped through the defense on the left wing side and crossed in front of the crease on his backhand. Mysak powered a backhander past Miller and the Bruins earned the victory, 4-3.

With the win, the Bruins improved to 17-9-4-2 while the Bobcats slipped to 19-7-2-3, and for Austin, they increased their point-streak to seven straight games. Up next for the Bruins, they’re on the road this Thursday against the St. Cloud Blizzard before welcoming the Blizzard to Riverside Arena on Friday, January 10. Austin and St. Cloud will wrap up their three game set up in St. Cloud on Saturday, January 11.