Five different players scored goals as the Alaska Nanooks hockey team recorded a rare Friday night victory in Tempe, Arizona.
The Nanooks scored every way possible — on the power play, shorthanded, on a penalty shot and into an empty net — while goaltender Gustavs Grigals turned in another outstanding performance in a 5-3 victory against the Arizona State Sun Devils.
It marked the second time this season the Nanooks won on a Friday night. Alaska beat Maine 6-2 on Jan. 7 in Orono, Maine, but the Black Bears came back to register a 4-2 win the following night.
“It feels great to get a win on a Friday night,” Alaska coach Erik Largen said via cell phone following the game. “We haven’t had a sweep all year, so it would be nice to get one.”
The Nanooks and Sun Devils finished their two-game series on Saturday night in Tempe. The two teams will play again on Feb. 25 and 26 at the Carlson Center in Fairbanks to cap Hockey Week in Fairbanks.
The Nanooks started fast in the opening period Friday, had a defensive lapse midway through the second and finished strong scoring four straight goals before giving up a goal on the power play with 20 seconds left in the game.
“I thought it was a really good overall effort tonight,” Largen said.
After the Nanooks took a 1-0 lead in the first period, Arizona State scored twice midway through the second to take the lead, but Alaska notched a power-play goal late in the second and then scored three straight times in the third to put the game away.
“Arizona State has a lot of skilled forwards and we had to do a lot to slow them down,” Largen said. “Even though we were outshot in the third period, I thought we really played solid hockey.”
Grigals stopped 20 of 21 shots that came his way in the third period and finished the night with a 38-save triumph.
The Nanooks took a 1-0 lead at 4:15 of the first period when Brady Risk beat Arizona State goalie Ben Kraws on a penalty shot after the Sun Devils’ Jacob Wilson was ticketed for throwing equipment.
That lead held up until 10:16 of the second period when ASU’s Jordan Sandhu scored an even-strength goal. Less the two minutes later the Sun Devils had a 2-1 lead on Matthew Kopperud’s power-play goal.
Two minutes later, Arizona State was awarded a penalty shot after Alaska’s Didrik Henbrant was ticketed for slashing, but Grigals repelled the attempt and turned the tide in favor of the Nanooks.
Harrison Israels power-play goal at 18:47 of the second period, off assists from Filip Fornaa Svennson and Garrett Pyke, pulled the Nanooks even at 2-2.
The Nanooks took the lead for good at 2:05 of the second period on a goal by Caleb Hite, with assists from Antti Virtanen and Simon Falk.
Anton Rubtsov scored what proved to be the game-winning goal with 4:11 remaining, with an assist from Virtanen.
“He made a nice move to get around the defenseman and then slipped the puck right between the goalie’s legs,” Largen said.
After Arizona State pulled its goalie with more than two minutes remaining, Henbrant scored into an empty net at the 18:39 mark to seal the win. Markuss Komuls earned an assist on the play.
Jack Jensen completed the scoring for Arizona State, notching a power-play goal with 20 seconds left on the clock.
The win improved Alaska to 8-16-1 on the season, while Arizona State fell to 15-15-0.
