Avs use late power-play goal to rebound against Ice Dogs

PALMER - Gage Christianson made the most of a late power-play opportunity for the Alaska Avalanche.

The Anchorage native scored the game-winning power-play goal with 1 minute and 36 seconds left in regulation to give the Avs a 6-5 win over the Fairbanks Ice Dogs at the MTA Events Center on Friday.

Christianson and fellow forward Wehebe Darge each scored a pair of goals in the win to help the first-place Avs improve to 28-13-3 overall. Alaska now has a North American Hockey League West Division leading 59 points in the standings, eight ahead of the second-place Ice Dogs (22-9-7).

The rivals meet again Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in Palmer in the rubber match of the three-game series.

For complete coverage, see the Sunday Frontiersman.

Alaska 6, Fairbanks 5

Friday, MTA Events Center

First period - 1. Fairbanks- Osborn (Levin, Hajdukovich) pp 14:49; 2. Alaska- Darge (Nelson, Hansen) 18:08.

Second period - 3. Alaska- Christianson (Watt, Hesse) 2:00; 4. Fairbanks- Osborn (Wolter, O'Rourke) 3:54; 5. Alaska- Schmitz (Hesse) pp 8:03; 6. Alaska- Darge (Novakovich, Janssen) 13:00; 7. Fairbanks- Clemmend (Hajdukovich, Levin) 14:23.

Third period - 8. Alaska- Bergh (Darge, Hansen) 0:16; 9. Fairbanks- Earnest (Munson) 4:19; 10. Fairbanks- Munson (O'Rourke, Levin) pp 14:07; 11. Alaska- Christianson (Watt, Novakovich) pp 18:24.

Shots on goal: Fairbanks 14-7-8-29, Alaska 10-9-5-24; Saves: Fairbanks- Fons 9-6-3-18, Alaska- Engum 13-5-6-24; Power plays: Fairbanks 2 for 4, Alaska 2 for 4.