The Austin Bruins took the first step towards gaining home ice in the first round of the NAHL playoffs when they beat the Bismarck Bobcats 6-3 in Riverside Arena Friday.

Now Austin will need a repeat performance when it hosts Bismarck Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. The Bruins will need to get at least one point in that game if they want to have home ice advantage in the No. 2-No. 3 matchup of the NAHL Divisional semifinals.

Austin led just 2-1 going into the third period when Garrett Dahm scored an early shorthanded goal to give the Bruins momentum.

“It feels good to win, but we’ve go to clean some things up,” Austin head coach Steve Howard said. “Our structure’s important and we want to stick to it, especially in that second period. We had power plays where we didn’t execute and we let the foot off the gas and we can’t afford to do that tomorrow.”

Austin (32-19-4-4 overall) jumped out to an early 1-0 lead when Evan Cholak connected on a one-timer late in the first period and Dan Petrick put the team up 2-0 with a second period goal. Austin defenseman Lane Krenzen, who is from Duluth, said the Bruins are trying to replicate what the University of Minnesota Duluth has done to get into the NCAA Division I hockey title game.

“The fast start has been key to us in these last few games,” Krenzen said. “At the Frozen Four, UMD talked about how fast their starts have been for them and it’s been showing for them, they’re in the national championship. For us it’s been the exact same way. We have to jump on those teams when we can and it’s an attitude where we’ve got to take care of business.”

Levi Stauber and Jed Pietila each scored their first career NAHL goals in the third period for Austin. Forward Dante Sherriff, who assisted Cholak’s first period goal, said the team is coming together at the right time.

“We just stuck to the gameplan that coach gave us and the boys all played hard,” Sherriff said. “The mood is great. All of the boys love each other and I feel like we could go far.”

Howard is hoping his team can finish off Bismarck, which is out of the playoffs, and lock up a home series Saturday night. He also hopes his team can stay healthy.

“I don’t think [Bismarck is] even trying to be the spoilers, they’re just out there playing,” Howard said. “Some of those guys will be playing their last junior game and you don’t want to see anybody get hurt on either team. We want to play the right way and at the same time, we’ve got to make sure we don’t put guys in vulnerable position to get hurt.”

Krenzen, who has 19 points in 59 games this season, played 53 games for Austin last season when the Bruins missed out on the playoffs and he’s ecstatic to be on the cusp of playing in the NAHL postseason.

“If we weren’t hungry, there would be something wrong,” Krenzen said. “Last year at this time when we were out of the playoffs and we couldn’t care less, but this year is the opposite of last year. We want to sleep in our own beds in the first few games and we don’t want to go up there, especially in that rink. We’re good their too, but we’re even better here when we’ve got our fans behind us.”

SCORING SUMMARY

Bismarck 0  1  2  —  3

Austin 1  1  4  —  6

First period

(A) Evan Cholak (Dante Sheriff) 19:35

Second period

(A) Dan Petrick (Travis Kothenbeutel, Cholak) (power play) 4:39

(B) Patrick O’Connor (Adam Stacho, Andrew Bellant) (power play) 19:44

Third period

(A) Garrett Dahm (Kothenbeutel) (shorthanded) :22

(A) Xander Lamppa (Garrett Dahm, Lane Krenzen) 5:59

(A) Levi Stauber (Andy Willis, Ian Mageau) 10:58

(B) Simon Morgberg (short handed) 13:29

(B) Mitchell Walinski (Patrick O’Connor, Jake Leitner) (power play) 18:25

(A) Jed Pietila (empty net) 19:26

Shots: Austin — 32; Bismarck — 29

Power plays: Austin — 1-for-7; Bismarck — 2-for-6