It took a bit longer than normal, but the Aberdeen Wings still managed to make quick work of the Austin Bruins.

The Wings had to wait out a nearly two-hour break in the action because of a power outage before putting the finishing touches on a series sweep of the Bruins with a 6-3 victory in the NAHL hockey playoffs at the Odde Ice Center Friday night.

“It’s one of the weirdest nights of hockey I’ve been involved in,” said Wings coach Steve Jennings. “Ever.”

Leading 4-1 with 17:02 left in the third period, a power outage suspended play for nearly an hour and 45 minutes. By the time the players got back on the ice, warmed up and the ice was conditioned, the break reached nearly two hours in length before the contest was restarted.

Jennings said he didn’t need to say much to his players during the down time.

“I actually didn’t have to say a lot. The group was taking care of it,” Jennings said.

Sometimes players can lose their focus in situations like that, but that was not the case with the Wings, who were determined the end the series when they got back on the ice.

“It’s not necessarily reset time, but it’s unfocused time. It can turn into that,” Jennings said. “I was happy with the kids. They didn’t really get into that unfocused time which is good. So we didn’t have to fight through that.”

The Wings came out sharp from the start, scoring the game’s first three goals.

Anthony Galante gave Aberdeen a lead it never lost by scoring six minutes into the contest.

“If you want to really make an impact, you have to get off on the right foot,” Galante said. “Scoring in the first 10 minutes is huge. It defeats their team. It just makes the boys keep going and looking for the next goal.”

The hosts quickly added two more goals, one by Jacob Bosse and another by Ronan Walsh.

Galante said the key is to attack the opposing goalie before the game settles into a rhythm.

“You got to get pucks to the goalie, especially earlier in the game when it’s harder to take shots and you’re still trying to get set,” Galante said. “So if you get at them early, you really run down on them, they should go in.”

The Wings were extremely efficient, finding the back of the net on four of their first 12 shots in the contest.

“We worked a lot on making our opportunities count,” Jennings said, “and I think the guys through the playoffs here have really turned a corner on that, which has been good.”

Cade Neilson then scored the only goal of the senior period on a two-man advantage with assists by Wil Gilson and Kyle Gaffney. For the most part that was the back-breaker for the Bruins, giving Aberdeen a cushion for the rest of the night. Jennings was pleased that his squad pulled the trigger at the right moment in that situation.

“That was huge. We’ve had our 5-on-3 unit that sometimes holds the puck too much and they do a little too much. They worked the rotation we wanted, we got the shot we wanted and it went in,” Jennings said. “That’s what we expect those guys to do. They’re leaders. And it took a little bit of air out of their sails on the other side and that’s the really important thing.”

Each squad scored twice after the power outage, Aberdeen getting a score from Patrick O’Connell before Galante added his second goal of the night on a empty-netter in the closing minutes.

The Wings will now wait to see who they will play in the Central Division championship series starting next weekend. Bismarck leads St. Cloud 2-1 in the other semifinal series.

“The good news is, is not’s a huge break,” Jennings said of the team’s normal routine of playing on Fridays and Saturdays throughout the regular season. “The reality is it’s one night. We don’t have to sit around for a week and worry about things like that.”

To see complete game stats, click on the following link:

https://www.aberdeenwings.com/stats/game-center/35759