Austin’s Cody Dixon skates the puck into the Bismarck zone in the second period of game one in the NAHL Central Division finals Friday night at Riverside Arena. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com

In the rematch of last year’s NAHL Central Division finals, Austin got the first leg up when it defeated the Bismarck Bobcats Friday night in game one, 4-2 at Riverside Arena.

The Bruins’ CJ Smith recorded a hat trick to lead Austin, which split the season series with the Bobcats.

Smith scored just 15 seconds apart in the first with assists both times coming from Chris Fischer and John Simonson.

Austin’s Riley Colvar watches his shot sail past Bismarck’s Jeremy O’Keefe during the second period of their NAHL Central Division finals opener Friday night at Riverside Arena. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com

Smith scored first at the 2:06 mark in the first and then again at 2:21.

The Bobcats cut the lead to 2-1 in the second when Cory Chapman scored at 9:27, but John Simonson gave the two-goal lead back to Austin with a goal at the 18:12 mark.

Bismarck’s Stanislav Dzakhov scored at the 5:26 mark of the third to make it 3-2 until Smith scored his third goal of the night at 7:50.

Austin got the win despite being out-shot 40-24.

Nick Lehr got the win in the net coming up with 38 saves on 40 shots faced.

Austin and Bismarck squared off in game two Saturday night before heading to North Dakota next weekend for games three and four.

SCORING SUMMARY

Bismarck 0 1 1 — 2

Austin 2 1 1 — 4

First period

(A) CJ Smith (Chris Fischer, John Simonson), 2:06

(A) CJ Smith (Fischer, Simonson), 2:21

Second period

(B) Cory Chapman (Daniel Kovar, Joe Giordano), 9:27

(A) John Simonson (Kody Reuter, Chris Fischer), 18:12

Third period

(B) Stanislav Dzakhov (Matt Pohlkamp), 5:26

(A) Smith (Fischer, Simonson)

Shots: Bismarck — 24, Austin — 40

Powerplays: Bismarck — 0-for-4, Austin — 0-for-1