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Photo by John Wagner

FAIRBANKS — Andrew Christ stood in the slot with nothing between himself and Fairbanks Ice Dogs goalie Tyler Bruggeman.

The Wenatchee Wild forward had a golden opportunity, and he fired a shot high past Bruggeman’s stick side that sparked a four-goal third period and a 5-3 win against Fairbanks.

“We needed something — either a fight or a goal — and that goal did it,” Christ said.

The late scoring spree gave Wenatchee the North American Hockey League West victory Sunday afternoon at the Big Dipper Ice Arena. It was also the deciding tilt of a three-game weekend series.

Fairbanks coach Josh Hauge said the Ice Dogs (6-6-1) had many early opportunities to put the game away.

“You play a team like Wenatchee and you get as many scoring chances as we did, I would expect us to win that hockey game,” he said.

The Ice Dogs led 2-1 early in the third period but couldn’t regain momentum after Christ’s goal with 11 minutes, 18 seconds left. It was set up when Fairbanks defenseman Josh Nelson’s skates got tangled during an attempted steal.

“We just didn’t respond well when one of our defensemen, who’s as steady as they come, went down and they scored from it,” Hauge said.

The Wild, on the other hand, took full advantage of some late luck.

Wenatchee (14-3-0) got another big break when forward Adam McKenzie slipped a pass by three Ice Dogs — ricocheting off a few of their skates — and Christian Hilbrich knocked it in with 9:37 remaining in the game, giving Wenatchee a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.

Nolan Youngmun put the Wild up 4-2 with 5:43 remaining, but Fairbanks responded 21 seconds later with a Tyler Voigt goal that cut the Wild’s lead to 4-3.

The Ice Dogs were then forced to slow down as Andrew Herbert was called for interference, giving Wenatchee the first man-advantage of the game with 3:40 remaining.

“It was a penalty, but (the referee) had let a lot of stuff like that go earlier,” Hauge said. “But what are you gonna do?”

Bruggeman (3-4-1) stopped 25 shots in the loss and gave up four goals. Wenatchee’s final score was an empty-netter by Hilbrich with 9 seconds left on the clock.

After being pulled midway through the second period Saturday night, Wenatchee goalie Mac Carruth made several athletic saves Sunday afternoon, stopping 27 pucks.

“He came out to play,” Christ said. “When you have a strong goalie, you feel like you’re in control.”

The Ice Dogs took the lead early in the third period thanks to a pair of accurate passes.

Ice Dogs forward Michael Juola all but gift-wrapped a goal for forward Mark Pustin, who tapped the puck in from beside the left post with 15:22 to go in the second period.

In the third period, Pustin sailed a pass to forward Kyle Politz, who was sprinting down the right side and flipped the puck past Carruth.

“Politz just has incredible speed,” Pustin said.

But there were many more could-be goals for the Ice Dogs, including a first-period shot that skittered along the goal line but never crossed it.

“We got the good shots, it’s just that the goalie made a lucky save or it went wide,” Pustin said.

Contact staff writer Joshua Armstrong at 459-7583.