Austin's Trevor Waldoch takes down Bismarck's Donald Olivieri against the boards during the first period Friday night at Riverside Arena. -- Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com

The Austin Bruins shook off a forgettable first period and turned it on in the second as they scored three times in that period in a 5-3 win over Bismarck (43-12-2 overall) in Riverside Arena Friday.

John Kirby scored on a put-back goal off a Charlie Adams shot, Jeremy Finger hit a one-timer off an Adams pass and AJ Reid gave the Bruins the lead for good when he rebounded his own point-blank shot for a goal with 4:16 left in the second period.

Austin's AJ Reid celebrates his goal with teammates during the second period Friday night against Bismarck at Riverside Arena. -- Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com

“It came over and I got pretty good wood on it, but the goalie made a nice save on it. Then it came right back to me and I was able to lift it over his pad,” said Reid, an Army commit who has 24 points this season, said. “When you’re able to put that many goals in a period against that team, it gets your confidence going.”

Austin (33-16-6 overall) trailed 2-0 after Bismarck scored two goals in the first nine minutes of the game, before it found it’s rhythm.

“I think we had a couple of shifts where we felt sorry for ourselves, and then we said’ ‘what the heck, let’s play hockey,’” Bruins head coach Chris Tok said. “I thought the second period was very exciting.”

The Bruins put the game away in the third period when John Simonson finished off a one-timer during a 5-on-3 powerplay with 7:25 left in the game.

Tyler Bruggeman finished with 28 saves and he had to make a couple of late stops as the Bobcats had couple of breakaways in the last two minutes.

Austin's Charlie Adams looks for a rebound during the second period while fending off Bismarck's Bryce Anderson Friday night at Riverside Arena. -- Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com

“They’ve won a lot of games for a reason,” Tok said of Bismarck. “They’re veterans and they’re a resilient club. I like the way our guys competed and played hard.”

Finger, who scored two goals Friday, now has 16 goals on the season.

Austin remains four points behind second place Alexandria in the NAHL Central Division and each team has four games remaining.

SCORING SUMMARY

Bismarck 2 1 0 — 3

Austin 1 3 1 — 5

First period

(B) Daniel Zawacki (powerplay) 5:40

Austin's Jeremy Finger puts a shot on Bismarck goalie Tommy Burke in the second period Friday night at Riverside Arena. Finger ended up with two goals on the night as the Bruins defeated Bismarck 5-3. -- Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com

(B) Zawacki 8:35

(A) Jeremy Finger (Charlie Adams) 11:43

Second period

(A) John Kirby (Adams, AJ Reid) :20

(B) Daniel Kovar 2:05

(A) Jeremy Finger (Charlie Adams, Jonathan Gehrt) 13:54

(A) AJ Reid (Brandon Wahlin, Matt Hanen) 15:44

Third period

(A) John Simonson (powerplay) (Reid, Jonathan Gehrt) 12:35

Powerplays: Austin — 1-for-6; Bismarck — 1-for-3

Shots: Austin — 30; Bismarck — 31