The Kenai River Brown Bears were swept by the host Amarillo (Texas) Bulls on Friday and Saturday in North American Hockey League play.
The Bears lost 5-1 on Friday and 8-1 on Saturday to fall out of first place in the Midwest Division.
The Fairbanks Ice Dogs (24-9-1-2) now lead the division with 51 points, while the Brown Bears (22-10-1-3) have 48 points. The Chippewa (Wisconsin) Steel are in third with 34 points.
The Bulls improved to 25-6-1-2 and have the second best record in the league.
Kenai River now stays on the road to face the New Mexico Ice Wolves at 5:30 p.m. AKST on Friday and 5 p.m. AKST on Saturday.
Saturday, the Bears got off to a slow start and never recovered. Matt Allen, Gleb Murtazin and Jordan Venegoni all scored in the first period for a 3-0 lead.
Just 2 minutes, 57 seconds, into the second period, Peter Morgan got the Bears going with a goal on assists from Wasilla’s Porter Schachle and Cody Moline. Venegoni would score short-handed before the second was done for a 4-1 lead.
The Bears struggled on special teams in the game, giving up three power-play goals while going 0 for 2 on the power play.
The Bulls quickly closed the door in the third period, with Ty Black, Murtazin, Allen and Nick Trela scoring in the first 6:21.
Charlie Glockner had 28 saves for Amarillo. Landon Pavlisin stopped five for the Bears before being pulled after the first three goals. Danny Fraga stopped 29 and yielded five goals.
Friday, the Bulls took a 2-0 lead after the first period on goals by Venegoni and Black.
In the second period, Kenai River cut the lead in half when Anchorage’s Skylar Gutierrez scored unassisted. Amarillo would score two goals, by Ryan Tucker and Gleb Murtazin, within 32 seconds of each other before the second period to take control at 4-1.
With 25 seconds left in the game, David Hill added the last goal for Amarillo.
Landon Pavlisin had 46 saves for the Bears, while Max Gutjahr stopped 19 for the Bulls.
Friday
Bulls 5, Brown Bears 1
Kenai River 0 1 0 — 1
Amarillo 2 2 1 — 5
First period — 1. Amarillo, Venegoni (Puikkonen, Sertti), pp, 5:09; 2. Amarillo, Black (Hill, Sertti), 18:49. Penalties — Kenai River 1 for 2:00; Amarillo 1 for 2:00.
Second period — 3. Kenai River, Gutierrez (un.), 6:55; 4. Amarillo, Tucker (Burke, Tongue), 8:25; 5. Amarillo, Murtazin (Mesic, Puikkonen), 8:57. Penalties — Kenai River 1 for 2:00; Amarillo 2 for 4:00.
Third period — 6. Amarillo, Hill (Stapleton, Carlin), 19:35. Penalties — Kenai River 2 for 4:00; Amarillo 3 for 9:00.
Shots on goal — Kenai River 8-4-8—20; Amarillo 18-16-17—51.
Goalies — Kenai River, Pavlisin (51 shots, 46 saves); Amarillo, Gutjahr (20 shots, 19 saves).
Power plays — Kenai River 0 for 6; Amarillo 1 for 4.
Saturday
Bulls 8, Brown Bears 1
Kenai River 0 1 0 —1
Amarillo 3 1 4 —8
First period — 1. Amarillo, Allen (Puikkonen, Murtazin), 1:05; 2. Amarillo, Murtazin (Dineen, Trela), pp, 3:21; 3. Amarillo, Venegoni (Sertti), pp, 10:36. Penalties — Kenai River 2 for 4:00.
Second period — 3. Kenai River, Morgan (Schachle, Moline), 2:57; 4. Amarillo, Venegoni (Carlin), sh, 12:35. Penalties — Kenai River 1 for 2:00; Amarillo 2 for 4:00.
Third period — 5. Amarillo, Black (Dineen, Trela), 0:30; 6. Amarillo, Murtazin (Carlin, Trela), pp, 3:27; 7. Amarillo, Allen (Murtazin), 6:11; 8. Amarillo, Trela (Black), 6:21. Penalties — Kenai River 2 for 22:00.
Shots on goal — Kenai River 6-9-14—29; Amarillo 11-15-16—42.
Goalies — Kenai River, Pavlisin (8 shots, 5 saves), Fraga (34 shots, 29 saves); Amarillo, Glockner (29 shots, 28 saves).
Power plays — Kenai River 0 for 2; Amarillo 3 for 4.
