Late third period goal lifts Blizzard past Bruins 4-3 Friday night
Luke Acquaro scored the game-winning goal with just fifty seconds remaining in regulation to propel the St. Cloud Blizzard to the 4-3 win over the Austin Bruins at Riverside Arena Friday evening.
In the first meeting of the season between the two teams, it was St. Cloud on the road who broke the games scoreless tie. Brady Bjork sprung free on a mini-breakaway and went low glove-side on Tyler Shea and midway through the first period, it was 1-0 St. Cloud. The Bruins battled back six minute later with his eleventh goal in his last eleven games to even the game at 1-1.
In the second period, the Bruins took their first and only lead of the night thanks to the first career goal by Cullen Rush. On a play starting in the Bruins defensive zone following a big save by Shea , Dante Sheriff skated out through the neutral zone and fed across to Rush who buried it home and gave the Bruins the lead, 2-1. From there it was all St. Cloud in the second period, as they regained the lead 3-2 following goals from Jack Suchy and Max Johnson.
In the third period, the Bruins managed to tie the game at 3-3 when Josef Mysak scored on the power-play. Mysak was able to head-fake a defender out of his lane and fire a shot past St. Cloud goalie Sam Metcalf.
The score held true until the final minute of the game when Suchy powered into the slot and though he lost the puck, it was picked up by Luke Acquaro and pushed in past Shea.
With the loss, the Bruins fall to 12-9-2-2 while the Blizzard improve to 7-13-3-1 on the season. The two teams will battle in a rematch on Saturday night in St. Cloud.
The Bruins return home on Friday, December 13 for back-to-back games against the Minot Minotauros.