Kenai River finds Avs unbearable

WASILLA — It doesn’t seem to matter what the Kenai River Brown Bears do. The Alaska Avalanche just seem to find a way to do something better.

Kenai River scored two goals on 14 shots in the first period and Brown Bears goalie Josh Benton finished with 36 saves Friday night. But the Avs scored four times in the first and erupted for a 7-3 win over Kenai River at the Curtis C. Menard II Memorial Ice Arena in Wasilla.

“They’re a sharp team and they’re confident, especially against us,” Kenai River head coach Oliver David said of the Avs, who improved to 15-1-1 against the Brown Bears with the victory. “Getting ready for a game against your team you know you’ve beat, it’s a confident situation.”

All four forward lines produced, seven different players found the back of the net and Alaska peppered the Kenai net with 43 shots in the victory.

“Tonight we were not better than them in many areas and the scoreboard indicated that,” David said.

Alaska forwards Berkley Scott, Kyle Pichler and Andy Pearson each scored before the first period hit the 10-minute mark, and Beau Walker slipped a puck past Benton late in the first to push the Avs to the early lead. David said he felt the Avs won many of the little battles.

“It’s all about habits,” David said. “We have to win races to the pucks, we have to block shots, all the labor-intensive parts of the game.”

Alaska head coach Dave Boitz agreed.

“I thought we did that tonight,” Boitz said. “That’s what it comes down to.”

The Avs also had a little bit of motivation, the battle for home-ice advantage during the first round of the North American Hockey League playoffs.

“They’re playing for a lot,” Boitz said. “They know they have a chance for home ice advantage.”

Alaska took a quick step toward home ice using those four first-period goals to jump the Fairbanks Ice Dogs in the West Division standings. Scott skated between the circles, took Zach Smith’s pass from the right corner and sent a shot high into the net to give the Avs the 1-0 lead four minutes into regulation. Scott’s goal was the first of a handful set up by sharp passes.

“We were moving it really crisp, really sharp,” Alaska defenseman Jake Parenteau said. “We were making smart and easy plays.”

Four minutes later, Smith picked up another assist when he chipped the puck from between the circles forward to Pichler, who used the back of his stick to slip the puck into the net. Midway through the frame, forward Matthew Friese raced up the right side of the ice and shifted the puck back to Andy Pearson, who trailed on the play. Pearson took the puck right in front of the crease and beat Benton with a quick shot.

“They were making some great skill plays, some soft-touch passes,” David said. “There was a lot of skill on the ice for them.”

Late in the period, the Avs used an odd-man rush to score their fourth goal of the contest. Tyler Svoboda picked the puck up at the center line, skated down the left side of the ice and sent a sharp pass by Kenai’s lone man back to Walker, who beat Benton on the right side of the net.

“Smart, easy plays set us up perfectly,” Parenteau said.

Smith scored in the second period, and Parenteau and Haider scored third-period goals in the victory. The Avs finished with at least 13 shots in each period and outshot Kenai River 43-27 in the game.

“I thought we created a lot of scoring chances,” Boitz said.

Six of Alaska’s goals were even strength and Parenteau’s goal came with the man-advantage, but the Avs also had a number of shorthanded opportunities in the contest. Both Smith and Haider had multiple shots on goal while the Avs skated shorthanded.

“That’s been really good the last month, month-and-a-half,” Boitz said of the Avs, who are currently second in the league in shorthanded goals. “The guys have exploited the other teams’ defenses quite a bit.”

Kenai captain Johan Skinnars rang a shot off the post and into the net late in the first period to cut Alaska’s lead in half before the first intermission. Skinnars took a pass from Matt Bennett, settled into the slot and fired the shot that ricocheted off the pipe. Chris Rial put the Bears on the scoreboard when he cleaned up the garbage of Matthew Cinader’s shot from the point.

Doug Beck took advantage of one of Kenai’s four power-play chances, when he scored early in the third. Beck wrapped around and into the Avalanche net to cut Alaska’s lead to 5-3. But the Avs answered with the Parenteau and Haider scores.

“We hung with it and kept getting that next big goal,” Boitz said.

Despite the loss, David was impressed by the play of Benton, a rookie goaltender who was a prep standout at South Anchorage High School.

“I think Josh Benton put up an excellent fight,” David said. “He’s a very young kid, the youngest guy on our team, and it’s his fourth game in the league. I think he’s shown he deserves the right to even get a taste of the playoffs here.”

Benton made 36 saves, and stopped 14 of the 15 shots he saw during the second period.

“He took a pretty good beating tonight, but the defense didn’t clear in front of the net. The defense didn’t help much at all at times. He played better than the scoreboard reads,” David said.

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

Alaska 7, Kenai River 3

Friday, Menard Arena

First period — 1. Alaska- Scott (Smith, Williams) 3:56; 2. Alaska- Pichler (Smith, T. Johnson) 7:23; 3. Alaska- Pearson (Friese, S. Johnson) 9:25; 4. Kenai River- Rial (Cinader, Beck) 12:03; 5. Alaska- Walker (Svoboda, Van Allen) 17:50; 6. Kenai River- Skinnars (Bennett, Duwe) 18:46.

Second period — 7. Smith (Parenteau, Pichler) 13:28.

Third period — 8. Kenai River- Beck (Fusaro, Bennett) pp 4:09; 9. Alaska- Parenteau (Scott, Maly) pp 8:35; 10. Alaska- Haider (McGlasson, Hildebrandt) 18:27.

Shots on goal: Kenai River 14-7-6—27, Alaska 15-15-13—43; Saves: Kenai River Vaslijevs 0-x-x—0, Benton 11-14-11—36, Alaska- Peterson 12-7-5—24; Penalties: Kenai River 3-for-6, Alaska 4-for-8; Power plays: Kenai River 1-for-4, Alaska 1-for-3.