WASILLA — The Alaska Avalanche skated off the ice after the first period with a comfortable three-goal lead Sunday evening.

But after the second, the Avs hit the locker room facing an unsettling one-goal deficit.

Bismarck scored four times during a 2-minute and 19-second span midway through the second, and added a pair of goals in the third to steal a 6-4 win over the Avalanche at the Curtis C. Menard II Memorial Ice Arena in Wasilla.

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“We’ve done that a couple of times,” Alaska head coach Dave Boitz said of his team’s occasional struggle with hanging on to the big lead. “In the first series against Kenai, we got a big lead and they came back to tie it up. And we did it again against Springfield. We dominated the first half of the game, and we had to come back and win.”

Alaska scored four unasnwered to post that 7-3 win over Kenai River, and three goals within the final five minutes to edged Springfield 5-4.

But on Sunday, with a third-period power-play goals and 14 saves during the final frame by reserve goalie Ryan Faragher, the Bobcasts thwarted any hope of an Avs comeback.

“We’ve been talking to the guys about, when you get someone down, you keep them down,” Boitz said. “We even talked about that after the first period, and we came out kind of flat.”

Bismarck notched all of its second-period scoring in a pair of short burst. Ryan Jacobson and Sam Rendle scored within a 12-second span. Jason Fabian recorded a pair of goals himself during a stretch of 23 seconds.

“It was the first night our goalies didn’t play that well, but it was (also) a combination of everything,” Boitz said. “Everybody let down.”

Devin Schmitt and Dominic Penetta scored with the man-advantage in the third period to help the Bobcats record their first win of the year and improve to 1-5-2 overall.

Alaska dropped ot 8-2-1 with the loss, and snapped a three-game winning streak.

The teams will meet again in the rubber match of the three-game series tonight at 7 p.m. at the Menard Arena.

“(Tonight) will be a little charecter test to find out what we’re all about, how we respond to a big let down,” Boitz said. “The first period we’ll be key. They’ll come out with some confidence.”

Alaska owned the first period Sunday, netting three goals in the final 17 minutes of the first.

Zach Smith scored on the power play to give Alaska the 1-0 lead at the 7:13 mark. Logan Rounds scored shorthanded four minutes later. With 2:30 left in the first, Nardo Nagtzaam recorded a goal assisted by Smith and Rounds.

Nagtzaam scored shorthanded midway through the third.

Random shots ... Alaska scored a pair of shorthanded goals during the loss Sunday. Last season, the Avs collected only a half-dozen shortys ... With a goal and an assist Sunday, Smith now has a team-high 13 points (8 goals, 5 assists, 13 points). Through nine games, he already has more than half of the 24 points (14-10-24) he posted in 44 games last season. He’s also at a team-high +8 plus-minus rating, compared to the -7 he logged in 2008-09. Smith has at least a point in each of the nine games he’s played this year.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.

Bismarck 6, Alaska 4

Sunday, Menard Arena

First period — 1. Alaska- Smith (Parenteau) pp 7:13, 2. Alaska- Rounds (unassisted) sh 11:16, 3. Alaska- Nagtzaam (Smith, Rounds) 17:30.

Second period — 4. Bismarck- Jacobson (unassisted) 5:23, 5. Bismarck- Rendle (Jensen) 5:35, 6. Bismarck- Fabian (Panetta) 7:29, 7. Bismarck- Fabian (Dunne, Jensen) 7:52.

Third period — 8. Bismarck- Schmitt (Kleisinger) 5:18, 9. Bismarck- Panetta (Fabian, Kleisinger) 6:44, 10. Alaska- Nagtzaam (Kinnebrew) sh 12:11.

Shots on goal: Bismarck 8-13-8—29, Alaska 17-8-15—40; Saves: Bismarck- Masa 14-x-x—14, Faragher x-8-14—21; Alaska- Peterson 8-9-x—17, Robertson x-0-10—14; Power plays: Bismarck 3-for-8, Alaska 1-for-9; Penalties: Bismarck 13-for-34, Alaska 12-for-32.