Left wing Tyler Tomberlin delivered the game-winner for the Midwest Division and league-leading Ice Dogs at 1:15 into the 3-on-3 overtime period that was scheduled for five minutes. 

League high-scorer Todd Burgess lobbed a long pass up the middle of the ice to the streaking Tomberlin, who quickly faked a forehand shot and then tapped a backhand through the pads of Knights goaltender Andrey Svistunov.

“I saw a little change of possession and Todd picked up a loose puck,” Tomberlin said. “I know that Todd can find anyone anywhere.

“So I just took off, find some ice and he made a great pass up the middle,” Tomberlin added.

It was the first point of the series for Burgess, a center who leads the Tier II Junior A league with 88 points from 35 goals and 53 assists in 55 games. Tomberlin, who also had an assist Saturday, ranks fifth in league scoring with 16 goals and 41 assists for 57 points in 54 games.

Defenseman Jakob Stridsberg also assisted on the game-winner Saturday with his second helper of the night and 43rd point in 52 games.

The Ice Dogs, 44-8-3 for 91 points in the standings, were helped, too, by tighter neutral zone coverage compared to Friday night’s 3-2 loss in regulation.

“I don’t think we gave them as many odd-man opportunities or odd-man rushes coming against us,” Ice Dogs head coach Trevor Stewart said. 

“We had a little better gaps and we had better sticks in the neutral zone. We didn’t have to play in our defensive zone as much because of it,” Stewart added.

The Ice Dogs and the Knights each finished 2-1-1 in their first-ever regular-season series. In Pittston, Fairbanks won 4-3 on Dec. 11 and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton prevailed 5-4 in overtime the next night.

When he was asked about the competitive nature of the new, nondivisional rivalry, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton head coach Tom Kowal said he told his players “that they ain’t going to come to Alaska and embarrass me.”

Kowal, who is from Anchorage, also said that he was very proud of the Knights, who gained a point in the standings with the overtime loss and improved their fourth-place record in the East Division to 20-27-9 for 49 points. 

“I’m very proud of my guys,” Kowal said. “To come in here ... the Ice Dogs are one of the best teams in the league.

“It’s a great trip and we were all excited about it,” Kowal added. “To come in here and beat Fairbanks one night and come in here the second night and lose in overtime ... it’s not my best script I wrote, but I’m pretty proud of my guys right now.”

The Ice Dogs eventually forced overtime with Reggie Lutz’s goal at 7:07 of the third period during a 4-on-3 power play. Lutz, set up by defensemen Stridsberg and Josef Ingman, scored from the right circle.

The teams tied 1-1 in a penalty-free first period.

Center Clay Cross, with his second goal of the weekend, made it 1-0 for the Ice Dogs at 3:56 with assists from Lutz and Tomberlin.

Stephen Kelly tied it for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton with 17.4 seconds left in the period, as the forward tapped the puck into an open left side of the net after gaining a rebound of Dorian Dawson’s shot. Matt Beranek had the initial assist.

Knights forward Tanner Bennett broke the deadlock at 8:51 of the second, surprising Ice Dogs netminder Gavin Nieto with a snap shot from just inside the right circle. Bennett was helped by Kelly and Dmitriy Zaitsev.

Nieto finished the game with 21 saves and Svistunov registered 39.

Contact sports editor Danny Martin at 459-7586. Follow him on Twitter:  @newsminersports.