The right wing delivered both goals for Fairbanks in a 2-1 triumph in the arena that’s located about 38 miles from his hometown of Elk River, Minnesota.

“He’s been really strong for us,’’ Stewart said. “I honestly don’t think he had his best game for us today, but a goal scored is a goal scored.

“We need to find a way to play better,’’ added Stewart, who’s also from Elk River.

Game 2 is set for 1:30 p.m. ADT today, and if the top-seeded Ice Dogs win, they’ll play ub the Robertson Cup championship game at 10 a.m. ADT Sunday in the Braemer Arena. Fairbanks captured the top prize of the Tier II Junior A league in 2011 and 2014.

A loss today by the Ice Dogs forces a third game at noon ADT Saturday.

The winner of the Fairbanks-Aston series plays for the Robertson Cup against the winner of the other semifinal between the second-seeded Wichita Falls (Texas) Wildcats and third-seeded Bismarck (North Dakota) Bobcats. Wichita Falls won 3-2 Thursday.

Stewart’s emphasis on the Midwest Division postseason champions needing to play better probably had to do with the Ice Dogs trailing 1-0 until Lutz found the back of the net with less than two minutes left in the second period.

“They’re big and physical,’’ Stewart said of the Rebels, the East Division postseason champions. “I think we were a little shocked at the start but we knew it would be that. We have to have a better start (today) for sure.

“We’ve got to find ways to generate more time in the offensive zone,’’ he continued. “We spent more time in front of our net (Thursday).”

Dom Garcia, with help from Aston teammate Gvido Jansens, converted a power-play opportunity at 5:35 of the first period for the series’ first score.

Lutz tied the game at 18:07 into the second period on a tick-tack-toe play with linemate and left wing Tyler Tomberlin, who committed Monday to the NCAA Division I program at Niagara University in Lewiston, New York.

“They turned over the puck inside the blue line. Reggie had it and moved it up to Tomberlin,’’ Stewart said. “They moved it back and forth and Reggie had a wide-open net.”

Defenseman Adam Kleven set up Lutz for the game-winner at 11:46 into the third.

Clay Cross passed it to Kleven in the neutral zone and the defenseman moved up the middle to put a shot on net. Lutz drove to the net, collected the rebound and snuck it past Rebels goaltender Darion Hanson.

“It was a great play,’’ Stewart said. Lutz has six goals and three assists for nine points in 10 postseason games.

Hanson finished with 24 saves and Ice Dogs counterpart Gavin Nieto stopped 29 shots by Aston.

“He was all over the place,’’ Stewart said of Nieto. “He was really good, especially early on.”

Dog Bytes

A viewing party for today’s Fairbanks-Aston game takes place at Tubby’s BBQ in the Regency Hotel, 95 10th Avenue.

• The Ice Dogs will be the away team today on the fasthockey.com broadcast. Fans who access the website have a home or away option.

• Ryan Burnett scored back-to-back goals Thursday for Wichita Falls, including the game-winner at 17:26 of the third period.

Jake Dalton, who had an assist on the game-winner, scored in the first period for the South Division champion.  Bismarck, the Central Division champ, got its goals from Oskars Batna and Willie Brown.

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

@newsminersports.