Ice Dogs power past Avs, take two-game lead

WASILLA — During the regular season, the Fairbanks Ice Dogs cashed in on 22 percent of their power-play opportunities, good enough for second in the 19-team North American Hockey League, and scored more than a third of their goals while skating with the advantage.

On Saturday, Fairbanks’ play with the man advantage powered the Ice Dogs to a two-game lead over the Alaska Avalanche in the first round of the NAHL playoffs. Fairbanks used three power-play goals during the first two periods to grab a 6-4 win over the Avs at the Curtis C. Menard II Memorial Ice Arena in Wasilla.

Alaska scored three times in the third period, but Fairbanks did just enough to squash the Avs rally and spoiled the Wasilla-based team’s first weekend’s worth of home playoff games in franchise history. With the wins, Fairbanks now stands a victory away from clinching the best-of-5 series.

The West Division rivals will meet again Friday at 7:30 p.m. at the Big Dipper Ice Arena in Fairbanks. An Alaska win on Friday would force a fourth game the following night.

Forward Jed McGlasson and third-year veteran Kyle Pichler scored during a 73-second span in the third to push the Avs back into the contest.

Defenseman Trent Johnson recorded an unassisted tally less than two minutes into the third to cut into the Fairbanks lead. McGlasson put a puck past Fairbanks goalie Joe Phillippi at the 10:57 mark, and less than two minutes later Pichler scored to slice the advantage to 6-4.

Rookie forward Blake Huppert put the Avs on the scoreboard midway through the second when he found a loose puck at the top of the left circle and fired a shot past Phillippi, while Alaska skated on the power play.

Fairbanks finished 3-for-4 with the advantage and converted on each of its first three power-play chances. Matt Millis, the hero in the Ice Dogs’ 2-1 overtime win on Friday, scored on the power play late in the first period to give Fairbanks the 1-0 lead. Millis skated free down the right side of the ice, moved through the circle, across the face of the crease and slipped a shot with the back of his blade past Alaska goalie Landon Peterson.

Early in the second, George Michalke gave the Ice Dogs a three-goal lead when he knocked in the rebound of James Saintey’s hard-angle shot from the right corner. Aaron McGill followed a Kyle Politz shot to the net and poked the puck in during the Ice Dogs’ third power play of the game.

Alaska finished second in the NAHL West to earn home ice advantage during the first round of the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. This is the third time in five years the franchise has advanced to the postseason, but this weekend marked the first time the Menard had housed any NAHL playoff hockey. Last year, the Avs played their entire best-of-5 first round series against the Wenatchee Wild in Wenatchee, Wash., due to league rules set to limit travel costs. In 2006, the team — then known as the Wasilla Spirit — was forced to host its two home playoff games at the Subway Center in Anchorage due to a scheduling conflict with the Menard Arena.

Alaska will have to take a pair of games from the Ice Dogs at the Big Dipper next weekend in order to host another home game. A fifth game would be played April 11 at the Menard, if necessary.

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

Fairbanks 6, Alaska 4

Saturday, Menard Arena

First period — 1. Fairbanks- Millis (Saintey, Tolkinen) pp 15:59.

Second period — 2. Fairbanks- Pustin (unassisted) 0:59; 3. Fairbanks- Michalke (Saintey, Larson) pp 4:13; 4. Alaska- Huppert (Williams, Maly) 5:47; 5. Fairbanks- McGill (Politz, Pustin) pp 13:50; 6. Fairbanks- Krause (Tolkinen) 14:12.

Third period — 7. Alaska- T. Johnson (unassisted) 1:28; 8. Fairbanks- M. Juola (Orourke) 5:21; 9. Alaska- McGlasson (Huppert, Smith) 9:03; 10. Alaska- Pichler (S. Johnson, T. Johnson) 10:16.

Shots on goal: Fairbanks 11-17-8—36, Alaska 7-11-16—34; Saves: Fairbanks- Phillippi 7-10-13—30, Alaska- Peterson 10-13-7—30; Power plays: Fairbanks 3-for-4, Alaska 1-for-2;