Against the wall

PALMER — The Alaska Avalanche host their first playoff game at the MTA Palmer Ice Arena tonight. But bigger than that, the Avs need to make sure tonight doesn’t mark the end of their 2010-11 season.

It’s must-win for the Avs as Alaska hosts the Wenatchee Wild tonight at 7:30 p.m. in Game 3 of the best-of-5 North American Hockey League first-round series. Wenatchee owns the 2-0 lead, scoring a pair of victories last weekend in Wenatchee, Wash.

“It’s a one-game series now,” Avs head coach Brian Huebel said Wednesday.

That makes the message to the Avs fairly simply — stay alive with a win, hang up the skates for the season with a loss. An Alaska win tonight would force Game 4 on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Consecutive Alaska victories set up the decisive Game 5 Sunday at 5 p.m. in Palmer.

Wenatchee opened the first-round series with a 4-1 victory over Alaska and followed with a 4-3 overtime win. The Wild owned a big advantage both nights, leading 4-0 midway through the third on Friday and 3-0 early in the second on Saturday.

Huebel said he thought his team opened the series on Friday flat and struggled early on Saturday. But he liked what he saw during the final two periods Saturday. Elliot Grauer scored on the power play late in the second, and Matt Friese scored twice during the final two periods to tie the game at 3.

Even though veteran DJ Vandercook cashed in on a bad bounce to score the game-winner in overtime, Huebel said the Avs can certainly take something from Saturday’s contest. The Avs outshot Wenatchee 20-13 during the final two periods of regulation, and 12-5 in the third. Alaska had two quality chances in overtime before Vandercook was able to bury the winner.

Grauer put the Avs on the scoreboard at the 16:24 mark of the second, but arguably Alaska’s biggest goal of the night came when Friese scored with only 25 seconds left in the second.

Huebel said a return home could certainly spark the Avs. But the Avs also thrive when Alaska plays a certain way, when speed and grit are central to the game plan.

Huebel also praised the work of veteran goaltender Landon Peterson during the first two games of the series. Peterson stopped 33 shots during Friday’s loss and came off the bench to turn away 11 of the 12 Wenatchee attempts he faced Saturday.

Reserve Nick Kulmanovsky earned the start, but allowed three goals on the first 12 shots he faced.

Alaska is also in search of its first playoff series win in franchise history. This is the fourth time the team has advanced to the postseason during its six-year stay in the Valley. The Fairbanks Ice Dogs swept Alaska 3-0 last year, the Avs suffered a 3-1 best-of-5 series loss to Wenatchee in 2009 and the Ice Dogs edged the then-Wasilla Spirit 3-2 in 2006.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/matsu_sports.