Avs rough up Monsters at home

PALMER — The Fresno Monsters looked ready for their eight-game trek through the 49th state to be over.

But the Alaska Avalanche were certainly glad to be home.

Three different players posted their first goals of the season and goalie Nick Kulmanovsky earned his second shutout of the year as the Avs skated to a 3-0 win during their 2011-12 home opener at the MTA Events Center in Palmer Friday.

“It feels great (to be home), get the fans into it early. It feels good in the locker room too,” Alaska assistant captain Ross Pavek said as the bass thumped and music blared from the speakers behind him.

Five different players scored to give the Avs the 5-2 win Saturday night and push Alaska to 5-4-1 in the North American Hockey League West Division standings.

Friday, Cody Bisbing, Ryan Dau and Codey Hansen each found the back of the net for the first time this season to help Alaska score the win.

Pavek set up the Bisbing goal to help give Alaska the early lead during a 16-shot first period.

“That first period we came out flying,” Pavek said. “That was our best period of hockey so far this season. It sucks we had only one goal. We had plenty of chances, but it felt really good.”

Pavek skated strong down the right wing, sending a pass in front of the net to Bisbing, who knocked it in.

“Cody buried it for me,” Pavek said. “I got a puck in the neutral zone, chipped it around the guy and got it wide. I saw he was on the back door, and he got it in there.”

The Avs had a number of quality chances during the first 20 minutes.

Kevin Novakovich just missed on a backhand midway through the period. Jeff Bergh put a wicked slap shot from between the circles during Alaska’s first power play of the game. Dau broke free snapped a wrister from the left circle.

“We missed a lot of opportunities, I think. We’re going to have to work for our goals. We’re going to have to score by committee, and I think we did that tonight,” Alaska first-year head coach Corey Millen said.

Millen liked the way his team worked throughout the contest against a Fresno team that’s in the middle of a brutal stretch of eight games in 10 days.

“That was our plan, put a lot of pressure on them,” Millen said. “They’ve played a lot of hockey here in the last seven, eight days. We wanted to get after them and make them work.”

Alaska outshot Fresno 37-17 in the game and 11-3 in the third period. Dau, who came into the game with a team-high eight assists, tipped in a Joe Schmitz slap from the point late in the second to give the Avs the 2-0 lead.

In the third, Hansen crashed the net and smacked home a Gage Christianson rebound to push Alaska’s lead to three.

Bergh skated the puck in the zone and sent a sharp pass to Christianson, who was parked at the left side of the net, to set up the play.

Kulmanovsky stopped all 17 shots he faced to earn the second shutout of his season and third of his NAHL career. The Fairbanks native also lowered his goals against average to 1.59 in the win.

“He’s great. He’s a man among boys between the pipes,” Pavek said.

Dau scored for the second straight night Saturday to help Alaska score the 5-2 win over the Monsters. Schmitz, Novakovich, Wehebe Darge and Mitch Kontny also scored during the win.

Bodhi Engum stopped 19 shots in the Avs net to score his first home victory.

Alaska and Fresno will cap the three-game series tonight at 5 p.m. at the MTA Events Center.

Alaska 3, Fresno 0

Friday, MTA Events Center

First period — 1. Alaska- Bisbing (Pavek) 4:01.

Second period — 2. Alaska- Dau (Schmitz, Janssen) 16:43.

Third period — 3. Alaska- Hansen (Christianson, Bergh) 11:50.

Shots on goal: Fresno 7-7-3—17, Alaska 16-10-11—37; Saves: Fresno- Sholl 15-9-10—34, Kulmanovsky 7-7-3—17; Power plays: Fresno 0 for 6, Alaska 0 for 4.