Avs on streak

WASILLA — Nate Pellegrino had quite the weekend.

On Friday, the Alaska goaltender turned away 31 shots and backstopped the Avs to a 5-3 win over Wichita Falls.

The following night, Pellegrino recorded 36 saves in a 3-1 win over the Wildcats.

With the victories, Pellegrino extended a personal winning streak to four games and the Avs’ winning streak to five.

“He played amazing. He was an anchor,” Alaska captain Sean McNeely said of Pellegrino, who was named GDI/North American Hockey League Goalie of the Week on Monday.

Tonight the Avs will go for their sixth straight victory when they host Wichita Falls in the final contest of a three-game series at the Curtis C. Menard II Memorial Ice Arena.

The first puck is set to drop at 7 p.m.

The Avs have already set a season-high with five straight wins, and have used those victories to climb out of the NAHL West Division cellar and put themselves within reach of second place in the division.

“It’s great. We’re on a winning streak, we just need to keep it going,” McNeely said after Saturday’s win.

McNeely and fellow blueliner Daniel Hildebrandt scored within a 1-minute and 19-second of the first-period Saturday to help the Avs take the quick 2-0 lead. The scores helped Alaska buck a recent trend that saw the Avalanche slip behind early before clawing their way back late.

“We’ve stressed getting out to a better start,” Alaska head coach Dave Boitz said on Saturday. “We’ve played some great third periods and some bad third periods the last couple weeks.”

Alaska’s recent success has lifted the Avs to 31 points a 16-18-1 mark. With a win over Wichita Falls tonight, Alaska can move within a point of second-place Wenatchee (17-15-2).

Wenatchee starts a six-game trip through the 49th state this weekend. The Wild are in Fairbanks on Friday and Saturday, and hit Wasilla for a two-night stay on Feb. 10-11 before capping their trip in Soldotna against the Kenai River Brown Bears.

With 67 saves against the Wildcats, Pellegrino raised his saves percentage to a team-high .896 and lowered his goals against average to 3.54. If that wasn’t enough, the Woodlyn, Pa., native also set a franchise record with two assists by a goalie in Friday’s win.

Pellegrino’s fourth straight win also gives him a 5-6-0 record in 11 games with the Avs.

Among the other surging talent is forward Robb Haider, who scored in his fourth straight game during the win on Saturday.

Haider, a former South Anchorage High School standout and two-time Alaska state player of the year, now has eight goals and 11 assists.

Haider is now sixth on the squad with eight goals.

Each of Alaska’s six leaders in goals — Kyle Pichler and Zach Smith (11), Tyler Currier and Logan Rounds (10) and Ryan Kowal (nine) are all from Anchorage.

Currier leads the squad in scoring with 10 goals and 14 assists.

Anchorage’s Jason Cohen has a team-high 19 assists.

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