The Minnesota Wilderness staged comebacks in both games in its series in Anchorage this weekend, finishing with two points after Saturday night’s victory.
In both games, the Wilderness (27-21-4) fell behind 2-0 in the first period, but also rallied to tie in the second period. On Friday, the cardiac revival was not enough as Anchorage (34-13-5) won, 4-3, while on Saturday, the Wilderness completed the effort with a 5-4 shootout triumph.
Defenseman Beau Janzig led Minnesota with four points (1 goal/3 assists) combined over the two contests. Forward Nick Blood and defenseman Ren Morque both had 3-point weekends, with each picking up one goal and two assists.
Nick Erickson guarded the cage in both games, and earned his 14 th win of the season Saturday.
Friday: Anchorage 4, Wilderness 3
After seeing an early lead evaporate, the Wolverines pulled out their 12th consecutive win after some late third period heroics. Two goals from former Duluth Denfeld Hunter Kade Shea in the final three minutes were enough to push Anchorage over the top. Shea first broke a 2-2 by striking with 2:49 left, and he followed with an empty net goal with 28 seconds remaining.
Janzig gave the Wilderness some hope in the final moments when he posted his fourth of the season with a shot from the high slot. Morque and Jacobsma assisted on the tally.
The Wolverines staked themselves to a 2-0 first period cushion thanks to goals just 10 seconds apart. Former Wilderness Cole Christian deposited the first with 7:49 left, while Fyodor Nikolayenya followed shortly thereafter.
Minnesota was resuscitated thanks to 13-7 shot advantage in the middle frame. A power play goal from Morque (assisted by Blood and Janzig) got the Wilderness on the board and cut the Anchorage lead to one with 5:09 remaining. That goal was Morque’s second of the season.
Astapovich then evened the score with his 12th of the campaign just 41 seconds into the third period, with Peteris Purmalis and Janzig getting the helpers.
Minnesota outshot the Wolverines 24-22.
Erickson took the loss making 18 saves on 21 shots. Anchorage’s Liam Beerman earned the win stopping 21 of 24.
On special teams, the Wilderness scored the only power play goal, finishing 1-for-2 on the man-advantage, while Anchorage was scoreless on only one chance. The two teams combined for only six minutes of penalties in the contest.
Saturday: Wilderness 5, Anchorage 4 (SO)
A seesaw battle went all the way to a shootout, where the Wilderness outscored the Wolverines 2-1 and snapped Anchorage’s victory run at 12 games.
Astapovich and Gustavs Ozolins both scored in the skills competition for Minnesota, with Nikolayenya striking for Anchorage.
That capped off a thriller, which saw both teams at one point holding 2-goal leads.
As it did Friday, Anchorage built its first lead with two goals in the opening 20 minutes. Tyler Hennen and Arvega Hovsepyan lit the lamp just 4:15 apart, beginning with Hennen’s goal with 10:49 left.
Alessandro Lurati led the Wilderness comeback when he scored twice in the 2nd period to tie the game at 2. On the power play, Astapovich set up the veteran from Switzerland’s first goal 2:36 into the frame. Lurati followed with his second tally of the game and sixth of the season with 6:38 remaining in the stanza with assists from Joe Manning and Blood.
Lurati’s second goal sparked a Wilderness rally which resulted in three goals scored over a 2:51 span, and gave Minnesota a 4-2 advantage going into the third.
Blood gave the Wilderness its first lead of the weekend with a marker with 5:01 left assisted by Janzig and Morque, while Nate Murray made it a 2-goal lead with assists from Purmalis and Harper Searles with 3:34 remaining. For Blood, it was his 13 th goal of the 2022-23, while Murray notched his fourth.
In the third period, the Wolverines forced overtime thanks to Hovsepyan posting his second of the game with a power play marker with 6:20 left to play, and Bryce Monrean scoring to tie just 2:46 later.
A scoreless overtime saw the Wilderness getting most of the chances and outshooting the Wolverines, 5-2.
For the game, Minnesota again outshot Anchorage, 30-27.
Both teams managed to connect on the power play. The Wilderness went 1-for-4, while Anchorage finished 1-for-2.
Along with stopping two-of-three in the shootout, Erickson held off 23 of 27 Anchorage shots through regulation and OT. Vaughn Makar suffered the loss in net for the Wolverines making 26 saves on 30 shots, and stopping one of three in the shootout.
Minnesota concludes its final Alaska swing of the 2023-24 regular season next weekend. The Wilderness will travel to the Kenai Peninsula where it will take on the Kenai River Brown Bears in a 2-game series beginning Friday night.