Third-period collapse leads to Alaska loss to Ice Dogs

FAIRBANKS — A fast start that had the Alaska Avalanche dominating North American Hockey League rival Fairbanks 4-1 through two periods of play came to a screeching halt Saturday as the Ice Dogs put up a four-spot in the third to beat the Avs 5-4.

Following a lopsided loss the night before, the Avalanche skated to a fast 3-1 start in the first period.

Matthew Friese, Jake Williams and Jake Parenteau each scored in the opening stanza, and Beau Walker added another in the second. The only blemish through 40 minutes of play was a goal scored by James Saintey for the Ice Dogs 19 seconds into the second period.

But the bottom fell out for the Avs in the third period, where Fairbanks scored three goals in the first 13:42 to tie the score, then came up with the game-winner with 1:36 left to play by Aaron McGill.

The Avs (17-12-6) out-shot the Ice Dogs (24-12-1) 43-38 in the game, but allowed the four goals in the final period on 15 shots to Fairbanks. Adding insult to the come-from-behind loss, Micki Mahailovich earned a 10-minute game misconduct penalty after regulation time was over for abuse of officials.

On Friday, Fairbanks scored six times on the power play en route to a 7-3 win over the Avalanche.

The Ice Dogs had 14 chances with the man advantage. Alaska was tagged with 32 penalties worth 143 minutes.

Zach Smith, Berkley Scott and Jake Williams scored for the Avs during the loss.

Fairbanks 7, Alaska 3

Friday, Big Dipper Ice Arena

First period — 1. Fairbanks- Waggoner (Politz, Juola) pp 10:10.

Second period — 2. Fairbanks- Voigt (McGill, Juola) 2:35; 3. Fairbanks- Tolkinen (Munson, Kirchevel) pp 5:31; 4. Alaska- Smith (Haider, Nagtzaam) 14:07; 5. Alaska- Scott (Hildebrandt, Warner) 15:49; 6. Fairbanks- Juola (Nelson, Taffe) pp 19:57.

Second period — 7. Fairbanks- Politz (Larson, Nelson) pp 7:54; 8. Fairbanks- Kirchevel (O’Rourke, Saintey) pp 9:42; 9. Fairbanks- Nelson (Politz, Pustin) pp 10:26; 10. Alaska- Williams (Johnson, Friese) 12:32.

Shots on goal: Alaska 4-5-4—13, Fairbanks 10-10-9—29; Saves: Alaska- Robertson- 10-3-x—13, Peterson x—6-3—9, Fairbanks- Taffe 4-3-3—10, Phillippi x-x-0—0; Power plays: Alaska 0-for-4, Fairbanks 6-for-14; Penalties: Alaska 32-for-143, Fairbanks 16-for-60.

Fairbanks 5, Alaska 4

Saturday, Big Dipper Ice Arena

First period — 1. Alaska- Friese (Pichler) 2:28; 2. Alaska- Williams (Parenteau) 3:46; 3. Alaska- Parenteau (Williams, Huppert) pp 6:23.

Second period — 4. Fairbanks- Saintey (Nelson) :19; 5. Alaska- Walker (Maly, Pichler) pp 4:39.

Third period — 6. Fairbanks- Kirchhevel (McGill, Tokinen) pp 4:41; 7. Fairbanks- Tolkinen (McGill, Krause) 10:54; 8. Fairbanks- Pustin (Juola) 13:42; 9. Fairbanks- McGill (Tolkinen) 18:24.

Shots on goal: Alaska 22-11-10—43, Fairbanks 10-13-15—38; Saves: Alaska- Robertson- 10-12-11—33, Fairbanks- Phillippi 8-x-x—8, Taffe- 11-10-10—31; Power plays: Alaska 2-for-7, Fairbanks 1-for-8; Penalties: Alaska 9-for-26, Fairbanks 7-for-14.