Avs get some redemption with win over Wild

PALMER — Last week, the Wenatchee Wild dealt the Alaska Avalanche a pair of lopsided losses on the Avs home ice.

With the Wild back in town Friday, the Avs were looking for a little payback.

Alaska scored a pair of power-play goals and goalie Nick Kulmanovsky stopped 30 shots to lead the Avs to a 3-1 win over Wenatchee at the MTA Events Center in Palmer.

“We owe them. We owned them this game tonight and I thought we came out and worked hard and earned that win,” Alaska captain Joe Schmitz said after the victory.

Wenatchee skated past the Avs 8-4 Oct. 25 and blanked Alaska 7-0 the following night.

“They’re a tough team, one of the toughest teams in our division, and they handed it to us last week,” Schmitz said.

But Friday was a different story.

Alaska skated to a 2-0 lead, behind first-period goals by Evan Janssen and Jeff Bergh. Schmitz added a goal late in the second period.

Wenatchee rocked Alaska goalie tandem, Kulmanovsky and Bodhi Engum, last week, scoring 15 goals in two games. But Friday, Kulmanovsky was back to his old self, stopping 30 of 31 Wenatchee shots, allowing just an Ansel Duesenberg score midway through the first.

“That’s huge. That’s what we need out of Nick,” Schmitz said. “He’s an absolute stud. When our goalie’s on, it’s easy to feed off them.”

Kulmanovsky got better as the game went on, stopping 10 shots in the second and 13 more in the third.

The Fairbanks native made a pair of big saves in the second plays, stopping Wenatchee shots that came off Alaska turnovers deep in the Avs defensive zone. Evan Schmidbauer swiped a pass at the left wing circle, and tried to sneak a puck between the left pipe and Kulmanovsky’s blocker, but the Alaska goalie stood strong.

Later in the second, Blake Saylor created another turnover, and put a quick shot on net.

In the third, Kulmanovsky made a pair of sprawling saves on a Wenatchee rush. Dylan Abood grabbed a rebound in the slot, and hammered a shot on goal. Kulmanovsky was forced to dive from the right side of his crease to his left, but made the save. Minutes later, Kulmanovsky sprawled to make another save.

“He’s huge between the pipes for us, and when he’s on, he’s absolutely one of the best goalies in the league,” Schmitz said.

Bergh and Schmitz both scored on the power play for the Avs.

“That was good for us us. Our power play, we’ve obviously struggled, but it’s good to get that on track,” Schmitz said. “It still needs to improve. We had a couple of other opportunities we needed to capitalized on.”

Alaska’s first-period scores broke a lengthy scoreless streak for the Wild netminders. Prior to Janssen’s score less than four minutes into regulation, Wenatchee goalies Robert Nichols and Greg Lewis had combined to pitch nearly 200 minutes worth of shutout hockey. Wenatchee blanked Fairbanks on consecutive nights after beating Alaska 7-0 late last month.

The Wild scored another shutout Saturday, edging the Avs 2-0. Lewis stopped all 21 Alaska shots he faced.

Kulmanovsky recorded 26 saves in the loss.

Trevor Husch and Max McHugh scored second-period goals for Alaska.

The series split leaves Alaska (10-7-1) in third place of the NAHL West with 21 points, one point ahead of fourth-place Wenatchee (9-5-2). With consecutive wins over Dawson Creek, Kenai River (13-4-1) is in first place with 27 points, four ahead of second-place Fairbanks (9-5-5).

Alaska 3, Wenatchee 1

Friday, MTA Events Center

First period — 1. Alaska- Janssen (Brossoit, Dau) 3:28; 2. Alaska- Bergh (Nelson, Wright) pp 10:10; 3. Wenatchee- Duesenberg (Lant) 10:31.

Second period — 4. Alaska- Schmitz (Bergh, Brossoit) pp 18:43.

Third period — no scoring.

Shots on goal: Wenatchee 8-10-13—31, Alaska 12-15-3—30; Saves: Wenatchee- Nichols 10-14-3—27, Alaska- Kulmanovsky 7-10-13—30.

Wenatchee 2, Alaska 0

Saturday, MTA Events Center

First period — no scoring.

Second period — 1. Wenatchee- Husch (McHugh) pp 6:52; 2. Wenatchee- McHugh (Sayler, Johnson) 9:59.

Third period — no scoring.

Shots on goal: Wenatchee 12-8-8—28, Alaska 4-8-9—21; Saves: Wenatchee- Lewis 4-8-9—21, Alaska- 12-6-8—26.