The Kenai River Brown Bears snapped a five-game losing streak by defeating the host Janesville (Wisconsin) Jets 7-2 on Saturday in North American Hockey League play.
The Brown Bears stand at 25-17-3-3 and are in second in the Midwest Division, 13 points behind the Fairbanks Ice Dogs and four points ahead of third-place Chippewa (Wisconsin) Steel. Janesville is 20-23-1-0 and in fourth place.
Special teams were the difference Friday, with the Jets going 2 for 3 on the power play and the Bears 0 for 2.
Parker Lindauer had a first-period goal for Janesville, but Lucas Wahlin, assisted by Peter Morgan and Tristan Culleton, made it a draw heading to the second period.
In the second, Jordon Halverson and Isaac Novak scored power-play goals to put Janesville up 3-1 headed to the third.
Anchorage’s Max Helgeson, assisted by Tristan Culleton and Cody Moline, cut it to 3-2, but Arsenii Smekhnov made it 4-2 with 3:15 left. Morgan, assisted by Soldotna’s Preston Weeks, cut it to 4-3 with 1:36 left, but Carter Hottmann scored an empty-netter before Logan Ritchie, assisted by Morgan and Adam Szubert, scored with one second left.
Landon Pavlisin of Kenai River and Riley Sims of Janesville each had 26 saves.
Saturday, Kenai River erupted for five goals in the final period to secure the win.
Anchorage’s Max Osborne had the lone goal of the first to put the Bears up, but Anthony Szurlej came back to tie it in the second. After Ryan Green put the Bears up 2-1, Nick Michel tied it headed to the third.
In the third, Wahlin scored twice, Osborne added another goal, Morgan scored and JJ Boucher scored.
Danny Fraga had 34 saves for the Bears, while Grant Riley stopped 16 of 18 for the Jets and Riley Sims stopped 15 of 20.
The Bears next travel to the Minnesota Magicians for games Friday at 4:15 p.m. AKST and Saturday at 7:05 p.m. AKST.
Friday
Jets 5, Brown Bears 4
Kenai River 1 0 3 —4
Janesville 1 2 2 —5
First period — 1. Janesville, Lindauer (Novak, Nardella), 6:55; 2. Kenai River, Wahlin (Morgan, Culleton), 9:36. Penalties — Kenai River 3 for 27:00; Janesville 3 for 17:00.
Second period — 3. Janesville, Halverson (Nardella, Smekhnov), pp, 14:45; 4. Janesville, Novak (Schoen, Lindauer), pp, 17:49. Penalties — Kenai River 2 for 4:00; Janesville 1 for 2:00.
Third period — 5. Kenai River, Helgeson (Culleton, Moline), 15:57; 6. Janesville, Smekhnov (Thompson, Schoen), 16:45; 7. Kenai River, Morgan (Weeks), 18:24; 8. Janesville, Hottmann (McNamara, Sabo), en, 19:21; 9. Kenai River, Ritchie (Morgan, Szubert), 19:59. Penalties — Kenai River 2 for 4:00; Janesville 4 for 8:00.
Shots on goal — Kenai River 6-11-13—30; Janesville 9-15-7—31.
Goalies — Kenai River, Pavlisin (30 shots, 26 saves); Janesville, Sims (30 shots, 26 saves).
Power plays — Kenai River 0 for 2; Janesville 2 for 3.
Saturday
Brown Bears 7, Jets 2
Kenai River 1 1 5 —7
Janesville 0 2 0 —2
First period — 1. Kenai River, Osborne (Krajnik, Ritchie), 19:04. Penalties — Kenai River 2 for 4:00; Janesville 1 for 2:00.
Second period — 2. Janesville, Szurlej (Thompson, Smekhnow), 7:43; 3. Kenai River, Green (Ritchie, Krajnik), 8:15; 4. Janesville, Michel (Smekhnov, Halverson), 11:52. Penalties — Kenair River 4 for 32:00; Janesville 1 for 2:00.
Third period — 5. Kenai River, Wahlin (Helgeson, Dodge), 1:04; 6. Kenai River, Morgan (Dodge, Osborne), 1:39; 7. Kenai River, Osborne (Scahill, Ritchie), 7:13; 8. Kenai River, Wahlin (Scahill, Culleton), 9:40; 9. Kenai River, Boucher (Green, Weeks), 10:29.
Shots on goal — Kenai River 9-12-17—38; Jets 12-13-11—36.
Goalies — Kenai River, Fraga (36 shots, 34 saves); Janesville, Riley (18 shots, 16 saves), Sims (20 shots, 15 saves).
Power plays — Kenai River 1 for 4; Janesville 1 for 6.
