The Central Division-leading Austin Bruins did damage early in beating the Aberdeen Wings 5-1 Friday.
The Bruins did too much damage for the Wings to recover, scoring four goals in the first 24 minutes of the game in Aberdeen.
"You just can't get down four nothing like that," Garrett Strot in his first game as the Wings interim head coach after the third-year Aberdeen team made a coaching change. "I thought our guys competed hard. We had some good chances, but they just didn't go in."
Four Bruins gave the Wings the most problems:
Drew Anderson: Three goals.
Brandon Wahlin: One goal, two assists.
A.J. Reid: Three assists.
Nicholas Lehr: Faced 37 shots with 36 saves.
"The guys were competing for the loose pucks, and that is a start," Strot said. "We have to keep building from there. We had a strong third period and a pretty strong second period."
The Wings looked like they were going to gain some momentum with Jake Horton's goal early in the third period. A couple of minutes later, however, Austin answered with a goal that was deflected off an Aberdeen player's shoulder.
"We have to bring it every shift," Strot said. "My biggest thing with these guys is that they have to want that puck. A lot of our guys showed that, but we have to have all our guys doing that all the time."
The Wings will host Austin again tonight at 7:15 p.m. at the Odde Ice Center.
In other North American Hockey League news this week:
Richfield, Minn., will get a NAHL franchise next season. The inactive New Mexico Mustangs membership will relocate to the Twin Cities suburb under new ownership.
NAHL teams immediately will be allowed to have up to four import (a non-United States citizen) players on their 23-man rosters. The NAHL allowed only two such players in the past. The new rule will allow the NAHL to be on par with the same rule that exists in other amateur leagues.
Austin Bruins|3 1 1--5
Aberdeen Wings|0 0 1--1
First Period: 1, Austin, Brandon Wahlin (Cody Dixon, A.J. Reid), 12:32; 2, Austin, Drew Anderson (Jake Flynn, Riley Colvard), 10:34; 3, Austin, Anderson (Wahlin, Reid), 4:25.
Second Period: 4, Austin, Anderson (Reid, Wahlin), 16:03.
Third Period: 5, Aberdeen, Jake Horton (Patrick Steinhauser, Colton Kramer), 18:10; 6, Austin, John Simonson (C.J. Smith), 15:49.
Goalies: Austin, Nicholas Lehr (37 shots, 36 saves); Aberdeen, Marcus Zelzer (18 shots, 15 saves) and Paige Skoog (22 shots, 20 saves).
Attendance: 1,112.