FAIRBANKS – James Saintey put the Fairbanks Ice Dogs ahead 2-1 in the second period with his second goal of Saturday night\’s North American Hockey League game against the Texas Tornado.
Unfortunately for the Ice Dogs, they couldn\’t add to Saintey\’s effort and the Tornado went on a roll to claim a 5-2 victory in the finale of the three-game series in Frisco, Texas.
Fairbanks, which won 7-6 in overtime Wednesday and lost 2-1 in a shootout Friday, remained in second place in the West Division at 27-17-3.
Saintey tied the finale 1-1 at 54 seconds into the second period, assisted by Michael Juola and Aaron McGill. He gave the Ice Dogs the lead with a power-play deposit at 7:47, courtesy of Jared Larson\’s helper.
Nick Taurence made it 2-2 for Texas at 13:49 into the second period and the Tornado rattled off three goals in the third period – Scott Deur\’s power-play conversion, Nick Taurence\’s extra-attacker score and Axel Boyer\’s goal with 30 seconds left.
David Rigatti scored in the first period for Texas, which outshot the Ice Dogs 46-23 and improved to 18-9-4 to overtake the Springfield Jr. Blues for third place in the South Division. The Jr. Blues lost 4-2 to the St. Louis Bandits on Saturday.
Goaltender Joe Phillippi made 41 saves Saturday for Fairbanks, which hosts Texas at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Big Dipper Ice Arena.
Contact the Daily News-Miner sports department at 459-7581.
