The Ice Dogs did that in Friday night’s 4-1 win, as they tacked on two goals apiece in the first and second periods and limited the Brown Bears to a single marker early in the third.

“Coach said that we had to come out hard and set the tone early,” said defenseman Marc Sullivan, who contributed an assist in the second period.

On Thursday, Fairbanks led 2-0 until Kenai River tied the game during the last two minutes of the third period. The Brown Bears forced overtime with left wing Gunnar Goodmanson’s extra-attacker goal with 0.4 seconds left in regulation. The Ice Dogs won with defenseman Alex Mehnert’s goal with 4.8 seconds left in OT.

Ice Dogs head coach Trevor Stewart didn’t want another overtime contest on Friday’s segment of the regular-season ending series.

“For the most part, we did a good job of not putting ourselves in situations where we had to defend scrambled plays in front of the net,” Stewart said of a difference between Thursday’s game and Friday’s matchup.

“Our defensemen played a smarter game,” he continued, “and our forwards could do a better job, for sure, of making sure that we have a support system in place to where if our ‘D’ do run into trouble, that we have outlets.”

The Ice Dogs, with the Midwest Division and league’s best record of 48-8-3 for 99 points in standings, and the Brown Bears, in sixth place in the Midwest (4-50-5 for 13 points), close the regular season with today’s game at 7:30 p.m. at the Big Dipper.

“We played a little bit better game (Friday), it wasn’t great,’’ Stewart said. “We know that they’re going to be coming (today), so we’ve got to be ready.”

The Ice Dogs, so far, are managing to stay focused in the series that’s occurring on parents weekend. The players’ parents and billet families — who house them during the regular season — were honored during the first intermission Friday.

The series also is happening when the Ice Dogs have a chance to set the NAHL record for most points in the standings in a regular season.

 If Fairbanks wins tonight, its record would be 49-8-3 for 101 points — one more point than the Janesville Jets set in the 2014-15 regular season, when the Wisconsin squad finished 49-9-2 for 100 points.

“Our parents are here, which is a big motivator,” said Ice Dogs center Todd Burgess, the league’s No. 1 scorer, “and one last (regular-season) game to set a record; so I think we can use that as motivation, as well.”

Goaltender CJ Boothe helped motivate the Ice Dogs on Friday, stopping 27 of 28 shots and getting help from his teammates clearing rebounds in front of the crease.

“He stopped the ones that he had to and that’s what you want in a goaltender,” Stewart said. “The guys rallied behind him and they want to see him succeed. He did a tremendous job tonight.”

Jakob Stridsberg and Burgess sent the Ice Dogs to a 4-0 lead in the second period.

Stridsberg, with help from defensive partner Josef Ingman and the second of Mitchell Baumann’s two assists Friday, made it 3-0 at 5:14, as his blast from the top of the right circle skipped off the fingertips of Brown Bears goaltender Magnus Lindhe’s glove.

Lindhe, after corralling 15 saves, was replaced by Nicholas Nast, who finished with 32 saves among 33 shots. The only shot he allowed was Burgess’ power-play delivery at 9:04 of the second period.

Ryner Gorowsky, the league’s No. 2 scorer, and Sullivan assisted on Burgess’s 91st point of the season. Gorowsky has 79 points.

The Brown Bears, after killing two penalties, avoided the shutout with Colin Appleton’s goal on a rush at 4:08 of the third period. Joey Sardina and  Connor Nilson, a former Hutchison High School and Ice Dogs defenseman, assisted on the goal.

The Ice Dogs killed two Brown Bears power plays in the first period while tacking on two goals.

Evan Somoza produced the game’s first goal at 13:46, finishing a give-and-go play with Clay Cross by slipping a backhand past Lindhe’s glove side. Defenseman Luke Orysiuk also assisted on Somoza’s seventh goal of the season.

Cameron Cook, with assists from Ryan Kero and Baumann, tapped in the puck at the right side of the crease at 15:44 for the 2-0 lead.

Dog Bytes

The NAHL announced the addition of the Northeast Generals for next season.

The Generals will be the fifth team in the East Division and their home rink will be the New England Sports Village in the Boston suburb of North Attleboro, Massachusetts.

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

@newsminersports.