The Kenai River Brown Bears split a weekend series with the Fairbanks Ice Dogs in North American Hockey play at the Big Dipper Ice Arena in Fairbanks.

The Bears lost 6-2 on Friday before capturing a 4-0 victory Saturday.

Kenai River returns home to host the Ice Dogs on Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex.

Both squads are out of the playoff hunt, with the Ice Dogs in seventh place in the Midwest Division at 17-26-1-6 and the Brown Bears in eighth at 14-32-4-1.

With the Saturday win, the Bears took over second place in the Club 49 Cup. The Anchorage Wolverines have 31, while the Bears have 13 and the Ice Dogs have 12.

Fairbanks scored four power-play goals Friday to the none of Kenai River.

The Bears scored first when Roope Tuomioksa lit the lamp on assists from Dylan Contreras and Ryan Hipsag. But Fairbanks had a 3-1 lead by the end of the first period. Wyatt Carlson and Arseni Vorobyov scored on the power play, while Adam Timm added a tally.

Andy Larson, assisted by Gavin Duckworth and Brady Engelkes, cut the gap to 3-2 headed to the third period.

The Ice Dogs then scored three goals in the first 10 minutes of the third period. Nolan Abraham and Carlson scored on the power play, and Lance Mengel added a tally.

AJ Reyelts made 29 saves for the Bears, while Tyler Krivtsov stopped 34 for the Ice Dogs.

Saturday, Kenai River shut out an opponent for the second time all season and the first time since Sept. 15. Marks Slavinskis-Repe made 33 saves for the first shutout of his NAHL career.

The Bears won the special teams battle Saturday, getting one power-play goal to the none of Fairbanks.

That power-play goal was the lone goal of the first period, with Contreras scoring on assists from Engelkes and Luke Hause.

By the end of the second period, the Bears were up 3-0. Tuomioksa scored on Gavin Duckworth and Contreras assists, and Owen Hanson scored on Landon MacDonald and Hipsag assists.

In the third period, Carter McCormick scored on a Hipsag assist.