The Aberdeen Wings’ season came to a close with a 4-1 Game 5 loss in Bismarck, N.D., Monday, April 29 in the North American Hockey League Central Division semifinals.
Bismarck won the series 3-2 and will play the Minot Minotauros in the division finals beginning Friday, May 3 in Minot, N.D.
Aberdeen head coach Scott Langer was disappointed following the loss, but satisfied with his team’s effort to get to a decisive game.
“Look, this is a hard division and nothing comes easy to any team,” Langer said. “Our guys battled their way out of the cellar and became a team that found success and found itself in Game 5 in a playoff series.”
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Bismarck opened the scoring early in the first on a Kade Kohanski goal at the 4:07 mark. Mathieu Bourgault made it a 2-0 lead for Bismarck heading into the first intermission.
“Just a bad turnover early, and they were able to capitalize,” Langer said. “Giving up those two early put us in a bad spot, but I thought our guys battled hard throughout, especially in the second period. We just couldn’t score one (goal).”
The Wings finally broke through with a Matt Wisener goal with a little more than two minutes remaining in the game to make it 3-1. Bismarck added an empty-net goal to round out the scoring.
The Wings outshot Bismarck 30-29, but only managed the one goal. Goalie Klayton Knapp made 29 saves for the Bobcats.
“Again, our guys left it all out there, and we definitely had our chances, but their goalie made some good saves and they blocked some shots,” Langer said. “We just couldn’t find the back of the net and this time of year you have to. At the end of the day, Bismarck found a way to win and we didn’t.”
Aberdeen ends its season with a 33-27-2-3 record.
Bismarck blasts Wings in Game 4
The tone was set early in Game 4 as the second-seeded Bismarck scored 1:03 into the game and added two more in the first period to skate to an 8-2 win over third-seeded Aberdeen Wings.
Not much went right for the Wings in Game 4 Saturday, April 27 at the Odde Ice Center. The Bobcats stormed to a 5-0 lead early in the second period.
“Look, they are a good team and their backs were to the wall, and everything they shot found the net,” Langer said. “We had our chances in the first period, but we didn’t bury them, and that was a huge difference in the game.”
The Wings put 14 shots on Bobcats goalie Stephen Peck in the first period, but were denied on all.
Aberdeen goalie Adam Dybal allowed three first-period goals on 18 Bismarck shots. The first one was a bit “fluky,” Langer said as it bounced off the glass behind Dybal and found the stick of Thomas Toth to make it 1-0.
After yielding the fifth goal 4:01 into the second period, Dybal was pulled. He saved only 17 of 21 shots.
Croix Kochendorfer came on in relief, making 14 saves on 17 shots.
“First three goals were kind of odd goals that put us behind early, and it’s tough to recover from being down early, but it seemed everything they shot went to the back of the net,” Langer said. “Again, there wasn’t a lot (Dybal) could do on a couple of those early (goals). It’s just unfortunate.”
Wings rally for Game 3 win over Bismarck
Simon Pollock’s redirect with 8:17 left in the third period gave the Wings a 3-2 win over Bismarck in Game 3 Friday, April 26 at the Odde Ice Center.
The Wings took a 1-0 lead in the first period on a Weston Turner goal, however Bismarck tied the game with five seconds left in the period.
Langer gave credit to his players for not letting that goal allowed affect their effort.
“The big part about tonight was how we responded,” he said. “We gave up a goal with five seconds left in a period, and that can be very detrimental to a team going forward. It can really turn a team’s momentum going the wrong way, but our guys stayed focused.”
The Wings regained the lead at the 7:55 mark of their second period when Jibber Kuhl scored on the power play for a 2-1 advantage.
Bismarck tied the game in the third period with a power play goal of its own. That came with six seconds left in the power play.
Langer was pleased with the penalty kill as the Wings were whistled for five penalties and were able to kill off all but six seconds of the 10 minutes.
“Honestly, I thought our penalty kill was outstanding tonight until the last six seconds we had on that kill, and we just missed on a blocked shot attempt,” he said.
Pollock’s game winner was off a redirect sent on goal by Zach Reim.
“We had a set face off play to get Jibber to the net, and it worked out where I found a lane,” Pollock said. “Reimer took a step to his left and no one picked me up, and I’m just grateful the puck went in.”
Dybal turned back 34 of 36 shots.
“You don’t win this time of year without good goaltending, and Dybal has stepped up his game, for sure, and has given us the chance to win the last two games,” Langer said. “It’s his net right now and I think he’s feeling it, and if we’re gonna find a way to get through this series it’s gonna be because of Dybal.”
Dybal said the momentum from Aberdeen’s Game 2 win had to carry over to Game 3.
“We just played really good hockey last weekend, and we wanted to push forward from that game, and I think we did a really good job of that tonight, for sure,” he said. “I always put periods in four quarters, every five minutes. I just felt I couldn’t get scored on until at least when they pulled their goalie, which also could give us a chance to get that empty-net (goal). That was my focus.”