Another loss followed the Kenai River Brown Bears to Fairbanks Friday night as they dropped a 5-1 game to the Fairbanks Ice Dogs in North American Hockey League Midwest division play.
In the first meeting between the two instate rivals, Kenai River spotted Fairbanks three goals before the Bears were able to score in the second period, a power play strike from Shayne Monahan with 5:43 to go in the frame.
However, two late goals from Colton Fletcher iced the game up.
With the loss, the Bears dropped to 0-9-1-0, one of two winless teams in the league, along with the Northeast (Massachusetts) Generals. Fairbanks moved to third in the Midwest at 6-4-1-1 and broke a mini slump of two straight losses. The Ice Dogs had lost six out of their last seven games prior to Friday night.
Through the first 10 games of the NAHL season, the Brown Bears have been outscored 43-13, and Friday night continued the trend.
Aaron McPheters opened the scoring for the Dogs with a strike early in the first period, then Hunter Wendt added to the lead late in the going on a Fairbanks power play set up on a holding charge to Connor Inger. The Ice Dogs outshot Kenai River 10-5 in the period.
Daniel Haider slotted in another Fairbanks goal nine minutes into the second stanza, but Monahan denied the shutout shortly after a tripping call was given to the Ice Dogs, giving Kenai River the man advantage and cutting the lead to 3-1. The Bears ended the period with an 11-8 shots tally.
However, the home team only sharpened up and Fletcher knocked in his first of the night on the power play early in the third period.
Fairbanks was 2 for 9 on the power play, getting goals while on the advantage from Hunter Wendt in the first period and Fletcher in the third. The Ice Dogs are the 16th-best team in the league on the power play, scoring at a 17.2 percent clip, while Kenai River is ranked 15th in killing penalties at 77.4 percent.
Fairbanks is the top penalty-killing team in the league out of 24 teams with a 93.3 percent kill.
Bears goalie Bailey Seagraves saved 25 of 30 shots on goal, while Josh Sarlo got the win for Fairbanks by stopping 17 of 18 shots.
Ice Dogs 5, Brown Bears 1
Kenai River 0 1 0 —1
Fairbanks 2 1 2 —5
1st period — 1. Fairbanks, McPheters (Haider, Maass), 8:25; 2. Fairbanks, Wendt (Eriksson, Haider), 15:49. Penalties — Kenai River 2 for 4:00; Fairbanks 3 for 24:00.
2nd period — 3. Fairbanks, Haider (Sullivan, Maass), 9:00; 4. Kenai River, Monahan (Tzveyn, Marzec), 14:17. Penalties — Kenai River 4 for 8:00; Fairbanks 4 for 8:00.
3rd period — 5. Fairbanks, Fletcher (Orysiuk, Kero), 7:34; 6. Fairbanks, Fletcher (McPheters, Kero), 14:10. Penalties — Kenai River 6 for 20:00; Fairbanks 3 for 6:00.
Shots on goal — Kenai River 5-11-2—18; Fairbanks 10-8-12—30.
Goalies — Kenai River, Bailey Seagraves (30 shots, 25 saves); Fairbanks, Josh Sarlo (18 shots, 17 saves).
Power plays — Kenai River 1 for 6; Fairbanks 2 for 9.
