“I got a little mad after the second post,” Lutz said. “I’m like ‘Jeez, am I’m going to get one tonight or not?’”

Lutz did get his goal and the Ice Dogs followed as they beat the Titans 5-1 in the opener of a two-game series at the Big Dipper Ice Arena.

“When you keep hitting posts like that, you just think oh man. Again, again,” Ice Dogs defenseman Alex Mehnert said. “We just kept going, kept going hard and we finally got rewarded.”

With the Ice Dogs (45-8-3) on the penalty kill, Lutz broke in on Jack Berry on a breakaway and lifted a shot over the glove of Berry at 17:43 of the first period.

“I flew the zone, the D wasn’t really paying attention and (Tyler Tomberlin) flipped it up to me,” Lutz said. “The D actually batted it down right to my stick. It came down and I saw the goalie was pretty far out of the net so I went right to my backhand. Got it over his glove and got a little lucky.”

The goal was the fifth shorthanded tally of the season for Lutz, which ranks second in the NAHL. Lutz has 29 goals overall in his first season in the NAHL.

Lutz’s goal was the only of the first period for the Ice Dogs, who found iron five times total on the night. Ryner Gorowsky hit the post on the power play in the first period while Liam Stritzinger and Todd Burgess had shots ring off the post in the second period.

The Ice Dogs gave themselves some breathing room with two goals in the first seven minutes of the second period.

“We just had a bit more jump and we were ready to go and got rewarded,” Mehnert said.

Josef Ingman scored the second Fairbanks goal 43 seconds into the middle period. While on the power play, Ingman blasted a slap shot from the top of the right faceoff circle past Spencer Wright, who had come on in relief of Berry to start the second

Logan Coomes scored the Ice Dogs’ second man advantage goal of the period at 6:13. Coomes one-timed a feed from Todd Burgess from the slot past Wright.

The Ice Dogs went 2 for 7 on the man advantage.

Lutz and the rest of the Ice Dogs penalty killers held the Titans (33-20-4) scoreless on five power play opportunities.

“Gavin really held us in there on the penalty kill,” Lutz said. “He made some big saves. They had a few backdoor tap ins and he came out of nowhere and just saved our butts.”

Nieto made 25 saves for the Ice Dogs, who have already clinched the Midwest Division title.

The Ice Dogs and Titans, who are tied for first in the East Division, conclude their two-game series at 7:30 p.m. today at the Big Dipper Ice Arena.

Adam Hascic supplied the Titans’ lone goal at the 7:08 mark of the second period.

The Ice Dogs regained the three-goal lead just before the second period ended. Mehnert picked up his eighth goal of the season when his shot from the point snuck past a screened Berry, who reentered the game after the Coomes goal.

Berry finished 32 saves while Wright allowed two goals on nine shots.

Cameron Cook finished the scoring for the Ice Dogs with his 11th goal of the season at 7:47 of the third period

Contact sports reporter Tim O’Donnell at 459-7583. Follow him on Twitter: 

@FDNMSportsGuy.