Late goal gives Avalanche the win

BLAINE, Minn. — There was a little jet lag and a mid-game lull, but the Alaska Avalanche fought through both and scored a 5-4 win over the Springfield Blues during the second day of the North American Hockey League Showcase in Blaine, Minn., on Thursday.

Wasilla native Matthew Friese set up a late Seth Johnson score to help the Avs score the Showcase win and improve to 4-1 overall.

Johnson’s goal, which came with exactly two minutes left in regulation, capped a three-goal third period for the Avs that erased a 4-2 deficit.

“We came out of the first period and drifted away a little bit. We had a lot of errors,” Alaska head coach Dave Boitz said by cell phone from Blaine Thursday evening. “But to their credit, they came back with a lot of energy.”

Defensemen Braden Kinnebrew and Jake Parenteau also scored during the final five minutes of the third, but it was the play-making of Friese and the shot of Johnson that officially put the Avs on top.

As the time on the clock approached the 18th minute of the third period, Friese won a battle on the boards. The second-year NAHL forward and UAA recruit saw that one of Springfield’s defensemen and lost his stick. Friese attacked the Springfield defensive zone, the other Blues blueliner skated over to help cover, which left Johnson open near the net.

“It was an unbelievable play by Matty Friese,” Boitz said.

Parenteau, who led the league in goals among defensemen last season, walked the puck up toward the Springfield net and fired a shot past Blues goalie CJ Groh with 16:13 to tie the score at 4.

Just more than a minute earlier, Kinnebrew scored on the power play to cut Springfield’s advantage to 4-3.

First-year forward Berkley Scott and veteran Nardo Nagtzaam scored during the first period to give the Avs the early 2-0 lead.

Nagtzaam’s goal came via the penalty shot. Midway through the first, forward Robb Haider won a battle for the puck and sent a sharp pass forward to Nagtzaam, who was streaking toward the Springfield goal. While en route to the net, Nagtzaam was dragged down by a Denys Petrukhno hook, and Nagtzaam was awarded the penalty shot.

The Njmegen, Netherlands, native beat Groh to give Alaska the 2-0 lead.

Nagtzaam also assisted on Kinnebrew’s power-play tally.

Alaska goalie Geoff Sadjadi earned his second career win in the Avs net, stopping 24 of the 28 shots he faced.

Alaska, which plays Albert Lea today at 4:15 p.m. AST in the Showcase, suffered a 3-0 loss to Traverse City on Wednesday.

“It was like night and day,” Boitz said of his team’s play on Wednesday versus the showing on Thursday. “Whether the travel, the short day, or playing right away in the morning had anything to do with it, we didn’t play real well. But (Thursday) we played real well, with lots of energy, like we did last weekend.”

Alaska allowed a power-play goal during the final five seconds of the first period and a shorthanded empty-netter during the final 10 seconds of the third during the loss to Traverse City.

Alaska concludes NAHL Showcase play against Owatonna on Saturday at 3:45 p.m. AST.

Next week, Alaska will hit Bismarck, N.D., for a two-game set against the Bismarck Bobcats, and will return to the Valley in early October to play the Bobcats in a three-game series.

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

Alaska 5, Springfield 4

Thursday, Blaine, Minn.

First period — 1. Alaska- Scott (Pichler) 12:43; 2. Alaska- Nagtzaam (penalty shot) 15:36.

Second period — 3. Springfield- Petrukhno (unassisted) 10:00.

Third period 4. Springfield- Rickord (Petrukhno, Prost) pp 3:47, 5. Springfiled Belisle (Shaber) pp 8:06; 6. Sprinfield- Schaber (Rickord, Curry) 9:34; 7. Alaska- Kinnebrew (Nagtzaam) pp 15:10, 8. Alaska- Parenteau (unassisted) 16:13, 9. Alaska- Johnson (Friese) 18:00.

Shots on goal: Sprinfield 5-14-9—28, Alaska 19-10-7—36; Saves: Springfield Groh 17-10-4—31, Alaska- Sadjadi 5-13-6—24; Power plays: Sprinfield 2-for-5, Alaska 1-for-7; Penalties: Sprinfield 7-for-14, Alaska 5-for-10.

Traverse City 3, Alaska 0

Wednesday, Blaine, Minn.

First period — 1. Traverse City- Huff (Wendecker, Radke) pp 19:05.

Second period — 2. Traverse City- Ainsworth (Huff) 13:19.

Third period — 3. Traverse City- Heinz (White) sh en 19:50.

Shots on goal: Alaska 6-7-4—17, Traverse City 10-9-5—24; Saves: Alaska- Sadjadi 9-8-4—23, Traverse City- Strandberg 6-7-4—17; Power plays: Alaska 0-for-7, Traverse City 1-for-6; Penalties: Alaska 7-for-14, Traverse City 8-for-16.