The Austin Bruins didn’t look like a team that was facing elimination in game three of the NAHL Central Division Finals in Riverside Arena Friday.

The Bruins controlled the pace from the start as they blasted Bismarck 7-0 to get within 2-1 in the best-of-five-series.

Jan Stefka scored two goals in the second period, which saw Austin take a 4-0 lead and the Bruins added three more goals in the third.

“It’s easy for a young team to be a little afraid and start squeezing the stick in this situation,” Austin head coach Kyle Grabowski said. “I thought we were fearless. We shot the puck better and we had better chances.”

Bismarck put in its second goalie in the third period and it started to run out the clock with six minutes left in the game. The Bruins stayed aggressive and Jade Miller came up with an exclamation point goal off a steal with 17.2 seconds left in the game.

Miller said he’d never seen a time run time off like that in a hockey game before.

“The only time I saw it was in the Minnesota state basketball tournament when Hopkins held the ball,” said Miller, who is from Minto, N.D. “Maybe they watched some tape on Hopkinds.”

Kristofer Carlson stopped all 18 of the shots he saw in net to get the shutout for Austin, which will host Bismarck in game four 7:05 p.m. Saturday.

SCORING SUMMARY

Bismarck 0 0 0 — 0

Austin 0 4 3 — 7

First period

No scoring

Second period

(A) Jan Stefka (power play) (Jade Miller, Jacob Paganelli) 11:07

(A) Austin Rueschhoff (Dalton Gally, Luke Notermann) 11:21

(A) Paul OConnor (Rueschhoff, Gally) 16:20

(A) Jan Stefka (power play) (Jade Miller, Rueschhoff) 18:10

Third period

(A) AJ Drobot (power play) (Luke Forfar, Justin Misiak) 8:02

(A) Miha Zajc (Notermann) 8:05

(A) Jade Miller (Zajc) 19:43

Shots: Austin — 29; Bismarck — 18

Power plays: Austin — 3-for-4; Bismarck — 0-for-5