Leclerc lifts Bruins with overtime goal
Published 10:18 pm Friday, February 21, 2014
Austin’s Luke Dietsch skates the puck up to the net and Aberdeen goalie Henry Dill during the second period Friday night at Riverside Arena. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
Austin forward Guillaume Leclerc may have been in a scoring slump for a stretch of games, but he may have found the cure this week.
On Thursday Leclerc, who is from Franois, France, celebrated his birthday and the Bruins got him a cake, and on Friday he scored a game-winning goal in overtime against Aberdeen that put the Bruins back in first place in the NAHL Central.
Austin goalie Nick Lehr pokes the puck away from the net during the first period against Aberdeen Friday night at Riverside Arena. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
Leclerc grabbed a loose puck and beat Aberdeen’s goalie on a one-and-one breakaway 50 seconds into OT to beat the Wings (27-17-4 overall) 2-1 in Riverside Arena.
“I saw it open up and my I did my best to get to it,” said Leclerc, who has committed to University of Massachusetts-Lowell. “I was by myself with the goalie and I scored. I’ve had some hard times in the last month and it was really good to score that goal.”
Austin head coach Chris Tok said he was glad to see Leclerc get back on track.
“You could see it in his face. He wasn’t happy,” Tok said of Leclerc during his slump. “His nickname is smiley and we wanted him to get back to smiling and having fun because he loves this game.”
The Bruins (30-17-1 overall) led took a 1-0 lead early in the game when Jake Arroyo scored on a slap shot, but the Wings tied things up early in the third period. TJ Roo tied the game for Aberdeen when his shot slid past Nick Lehr’s stick.
Lehr finished with 23 saves in the win.
“[Nick] told me there were holes in his stick after the period,” Tok said. “I told him if there’s just one in hole in there per night I think we’ll do pretty good. He wants to be perfect, but we’ll take that kind of goaltending every night.”
The Bruins had struggled on a recent road trip to Alaska and they had lost six of their previous seven games going into Friday night’s contest. The win was much needed.
“We really needed this one. Alaska’s nice and everything, but it’s nice getting back home,” Arroyo said. “I think we were a little tired on the road with the hotel scene.”
Since Bismarck lost Friday, the Bruins are one point ahead of the Bobcats for first place in the NAHL Central Division.
SCORING SUMMARY
Aberdeen 0 0 1 0 — 1
Bruins 1 0 0 1 — 2
First period
(A) Jake Arroyo (Scott Nelson) 7:36
Second period
No scoring
Third period
(AB) TJ Roo (Jordan Heller, Kyle Haak) 0:32
OT
(A) Guillaume Leclerc (Eli May) 0:50
Power plays: Austin — 0-for-1; Aberdeen — 0-for-3