Avs sweep Brown Bears with eye on playoffs

PALMER — The Alaska Avalanche swept a two-game series from the Kenai River Brown Bears Friday and Saturday at the MTA Events Center.

The Avs notched a 2-1 victory Friday in front of 333 fans, then cruised to a 5-0 thumping on Saturday in front of 423.

The sweep put the Brown Bears, who have lost five of their last six games, three points behind the Fresno (Calif.) Monsters in the race for the final playoff spot out of the North American Hockey League West Division.

The Monsters concluded their Alaska road trip with a bang in Fairbanks, losing 5-4 in a shootout Friday and defeating the first-place Ice Dogs 2-1 Saturday. It is just the sixth loss at home for Fairbanks this season.

While the Avs gained some ground on the Ice Dogs by improving to 9-4-1 against Kenai River, second-place Wenatchee (Wash.) swept a two-game series from the Dawson Creek (British Columbia) Rage, meaning the Avs were not able to make up any ground in the battle for second place.

Wenatchee clinched a playoff berth with the sweep.

The Ice Dogs now lead the division with 79 points, while the Wild have 74, the Avs 68, the Monsters have 60 and the Brown Bears have 57.

“It¹s obvious with Fairbanks that unless they lose out, and we win out, it¹s going to be tough to catch them,” Alaska assistant coach Josh Petrich said after Friday¹s game. “But with Wenatchee, we’re sitting six points back with two games in hand. Second place is still a real goal.”