First the Minnesota Magicians made Anchorage’s two-goal lead disappear, then they conjured up a goal with three minutes left to beat the Wolverines 6-5 Friday in a North American Hockey League game in Richfield, Minnesota.
The loss dropped the Wolverines to 2-3 in the Tier II junior hockey league. Minnesota improved to 5-2.
Talon Sigurdson scored a goal and an assist and Drake Albers tallied two assists to lead Anchorage, which returns to Richfield Ice Arena for a rematch Saturday at 4 p.m. ADT.
The game was tied three times, at 3-3, 4-4 and 5-5. Each time, Minnesota scored the go-ahead goal.
Anchorage jumped to a 2-0 lead in the game’s first five minutes on goals from Aiden Westin and Hunter Schmitz. The Magicians scored 21 seconds after the Schmitz goal, but the Wolverines regained a two-goal lead on Alexander Babich’s goal with six minutes left in the period.
Down 3-1, Minnesota scored three straight goals, two on the power play, to grab a 4-3 lead midway through the second period.
The Wolverines never led again, but they tied it with about five minutes left in the second period when Sigurdson struck on the power play.
The goal, Sigurdson’s fifth in five games, made it 4-4 going into the third period.
The Magicians needed less than three minutes to take a 5-4 lead, and they held onto it until Andy Ramsey’s unassisted goal for the Wolverines knotted the score with 4 minutes, 32 seconds left.
With 2:54 to go, Minnesota’s Trevor Kukkonen scored the game-winner with an unassisted goal.
Minnesota goaltender Sami Molu stopped 28 of 33 shots, and Anchorage goaltender Shane Soderwall stopped 23 of 29.