Mustangs salvage tie against Moose

PALMER — During the final seven minutes of the first period, the Palmer Moose were virtually unstoppable. The Moose scored twice during a 27-second span and added another goal late during that stretch. But the Chugiak Mustangs were able to overcome that stretch and salvage a 3-3 tie against the Moose at the Palmer Ice Arena.

“It’s a learning process,” Palmer head coach Brad Hanson said after the tie. “We’re going to strive to build on this and move forward.”

Chugiak grabbed an early lead, but Kristian Seward and Ivan Good each scored within 27 seconds to give the Moose the advantage. Piers LaFrance scored on the power play to push Palmer’s lead to 3-1.

“We capitalized on a few opportunities, but the rest of the game we were pretty lethargic,” Hanson said.

Chugiak captain Sam Linder cut into Palmer’s lead with a goal late in the second and Doug Keller tied the game for the Mustangs in the third.

“We kind of let our game down in the second,” Hanson said. “We’ve got to play with a little bit more intensity.”

Many of Chugiak’s offensive chances came off Palmer turnovers. Chugiak’s Jake Wells was able to cash in early. Mustangs center Sean Casey picked off a pass in the Moose defensive zone and worked the puck through Linder and Wells, who put a shot from the left wing circle into the side of the net.

“We’ve got to get the puck (out of the zone) a little better,” Hanson said.

Chugiak’s Matt Bennett made 32 saves and Palmer’s Ashton Good made 20 stops for the Moose.

“Both of them played good,” Hanson said.

Seward, who also scored during a 5-1 win over West Anchorage on Wednesday, tied the score for the Moose at the 6:26 mark of the first. Defenseman Brennan Harrison sent a pass across the zone to Seward, who reached out to put a puck in the left side of the Chugiak net.

Less than 30 seconds later, Ivan Good crashed the net and scored to put the Moose in the lead.

Good also set up Palmer’s next score, sneaking a pass in front of the crease to LaFrance, who popped the puck in from the left side of the goal.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com. Follow him at Twitter at twitter.com/matsu_sports.

Palmer 3, Chugiak 3 OT

Friday, Palmer Ice Arena

Chugiak 1-1-1-0—3

Palmer 3-0-0-0—3

First period — 1. Chugiak- Wells (Linder, Casey) 11:14; 2. Palmer- Seward (Harrison) 6:26; 3. Palmer- I. Good (Buness, J. Reeves) 5:59; 4. Palmer- LaFrance (I. Good) 3:02.

Second period — 5. Chugiak- Linder (Hetzel, Wells) 3:04.

Third period — 6. Chugiak- Keller (Smith, Jones) 13:44.

Shots on goal: Chugiak 8-9-12-4—23, Palmer 11-5-16-3—35; Saves: Chugiak- Bennett 8-5-16-3—32, Palmer- A. Good 7-8-11-4—20; Penalties: Chugiak 2-for-4, Palmer 3-for-6.