The Austin Bruins exploded with a four-goal second period and Alex Mella scored the hat trick Saturday night on the way to a two-game sweep of the Minnesota Wilderness with a 5-3 win at Riverside Arena.

The Bruins scored three goals, all in the first 10 minutes of the period and then capped the frame with another goal with under a minute to play.

Mella book-ended the period with two of his three goals, scoring at 2:04 of the second and again at 19:09 off the power play. His third goal came with 14:42 remaining in the third.

The Wilderness took a 1-0 lead into the second off a goal from Kosta Likourezos who also had an assist on the night.

But Austin took over after the break with Mella’s goal followed by Travis Kothenbeutel deflecting a shot over two minutes later and Andy Willis contributing to the scoring at the 7:27 mark to make it 3-1.

The shot count was nearly even with the Wilderness holding the one-shot advantage, 30-29.

Alex Schilling got the win in the net with 27 saves.

Scoring Summary

MN Wilderness 1 1 1 — 3

Austin 0 4 1 — 5

First period

(MNW) Kosta Likourezos (Gino Lucia), :48

Second period

(A) Alex Mella (Dante Zapata), 2:04

(A) Travis Kothenbeutel (Anthony Stark, Jaden Shields), 4:29

(A) Andy Willis (Devon Fields, Kothenbeutel), 7:27

(MNW) Ben Ward (Likourezos), 8:22

(A) Mella (Shields, Kothenbeutel) PP, 19:09

Third period

(MNW) Ashton Altmann (Nathan Horn), 6:13

(A) Mella (Zapata, Shields), 14:42

Shots: Wilderness — 30; Austin — 29

Power Plays: Wilderness 0-1; Austin 1-4