Michigan Tech’s Alex Smith (20) misses a shot wide past Alaska Fairbanks goaltender Gustavs Grigals on Friday, Oct. 11, 2019, in Houghton, Mich. (David Archambeau/Daily Mining Gazette)

HOUGHTON — Alaska Fairbanks used a determined start in the second period to spoil Michigan Tech’s home opener with a 3-2 WCHA win Friday night.

The Nanooks (1-2, 1-0) scored three second-period goals after knocking the Huskies back on their heels with an aggressive forecheck.

Tech fought back with a goal in the second and another late in the third with little more than a minute to play and six attackers. Tommy Parrottino’s goal with 1:14 left in the game, assisted by Colin Swoyer and Alex Smith, made it a 3-2 game.

Michigan Tech (2-1, 0-1) had a couple more scoring chances in the final minute, including a crucial save by Alaska goaltender Gustavs Grigals from a shot in the high slot with 40 seconds remaining. Alaska later cleared the zone with an icing to set up a face-off to the right of Grigals with 16.2 seconds remaining. The Nanooks won the faceoff and cleared the zone to preserve the win.

“I just think we gotta play a full 60 minutes there,” Huskies captain Ray Brice said. “A 10-minute lapse in the second period pretty much lost us that game right there. We gotta be better systematically and structure-wise as well.”

Tech’s would-be first goal with seven minutes left in the first period was disallowed. Freshman right wing Jake Crespi tipped the puck into the net out of midair after Grigals’ initial save on a shot from Logan Ganie on a two-on-one break.

Alaska’s first score came just 12 seconds into the period with a slap shot from Nanooks captain Kylar Hope, with assists from Tyler Cline and Eriks Zohovs. Hope’s slap shot zinged over Tech goaltender Matt Jurusik’s right shoulder.

The pressure continued throughout the period as the Nanooks put 12 shots on goal, while Tech was held to four.

“The competitiveness was there all night. We just continued playing and wanted to be quicker on the forecheck, getting the second stick involved a little bit more,” second-year Alaska head coach Erik Largen said. “The guys responded with that. Kylar Hope, our captain, with a nice shot to start it off. Our momentum carried. For about six or seven minutes we had them back on their heels. We were playing heavy and hard hockey. We were playing the way that we like to play. Credit to them though, they pushed back and in the third we were on our heels. That’s a good hockey team over there, so we’re happy with the result.”

Michigan Tech struggled with the breakout in the second period, which helped Alaska’s forecheck. Turnovers kept the puck in Tech’s defensive zone and the home crowd quieted further when Nanooks Justin Young banged in a rebound off Jurusik’s right pad for a goal. Alaska held a 2-0 lead less than five minute into the period. And then Nanooks defenseman Chris Jandric potted a power-play goal just past the midway point.

Tech responded later in the period by flipping the puck into Alaska’s zone and applying some pressure. It eventually led to a beautiful setup goal. Brian Halonen’s backdoor goal, his first goal of the season, came off a feed through traffic from Trenton Bliss, who took a seeing-eye pass from Logan Pietila. The goal with six minutes left in the second kept Tech in the game, which savored just enough momentum to try closing the two-goal deficit.

But the Huskies lost momentum by going 0 for 5 on the power play. Alaska was 1 for 5.

“Our power play needs to get a lot better, a lost faster and a lot more determined,” Michigan Tech head coach Joe Shawhan said. “A lot better in puck movement and a lot better in reads. That was really a big thing tonight, that we had some opportunities on the power play. Those guys lose confidence and I think it affects the rest of how they played. They weren’t able to generate. I think we have to get back to work on that and make it a strength of our team.”

But Michigan Tech’s third period score with an empty net was a bright spot for the team, Shawhan said.

“One of our goals going in was to play better with an empty net. Last year we were very poor with the goaltender out,” he said. “That’s a positive out of this game for me, that we had some structure with the goaltender out. We scored a goal and had some other chances. We just have to tighten it up. Even saying how poorly we played, we had a goalpost in the third, Bliss walked in on a breakaway. We had a backdoor opportunity in the second.”

Max Newton won the critical face-off late in the third as Tech pushed for the tying goal. Newton was 21-9 on face-offs, helping Alaska to a 34-28 face-off margin. One of the face-off draws he lost spurred Tech’s possession that led to Halonen’s goal.

“Max Newton was unbelievable. He takes a lot of draws for us and is around 60 percent on face-offs,” Largen said. “He’s a guy that we like to have out. It’s funny — he loses the one and they score. He wins the other one and it finishes the game. Face-offs are that critical and you want the right players on the ice at the right time.”

Halonen said he didn’t do anything special on his goal.

“Just a great play by Pietila and Bliss,” Halonen said. “I didn’t have to do much, just have my stick on the ice and put it in. They made a great play.”

The Huskies look to salvage a series split against the Nanooks in a 6:07 p.m. game Saturday.

“We have to see what we did well, what we can grow on and try to accentuate that and build off of that,” Shawhan said. “This game tonight is just one of 36 or whatever. It’s just one. We just have to grow from it and get better. It doesn’t mean the outcome is going to be different. But our job is not to get caught up in the bustle of it, and just focus on what’s actually in front of us or what’s going on. That’s what we’ll try to do.”

Largen said his team is ready to go for the sweep.

“I liked our effort, I liked our competitiveness,” he said. “Tech’s gonna bring it tomorrow. That’s a good squad, so we’re gonna be in a tough 60-minute battle again. We know that. The guys will be ready for that.”

Alaska 0 3 0 — 3

MTU 0 1 1 — 2

First Period–Penalties–MTU, Swoyer (interference), 5:13. MTU, Reitmeier (interference), 8:08. Alaska, Pyke (boarding), 10:57. MTU, Watson (cross-checking), 14:10. Alaska, Jandric (high-sticking), 17:59.

Second Period– 1, Alaska, Hope (Cline, Zohovs), 0:12. 2, Alaska, Young (Pyke, LaDouce), 4:24. 3, Alaska, Jandric (Newton), power-play, 11:41. 4, MTU, Halonen (Bliss, L. Pietila), 13:53. Penalties–Alaska, LaDouce (holding), 6:48. MTU, Brice (interference), 10:11. MTU, L. Pietila (interference), 10:33.

Third Period–Parrottino (Swoyer, Smith), 18:46. Penalties–MTU, Smith (roughing), 3:17. Alaska, Virtanen (roughing), 3:17. Alaska, Thompson (elbowing), 4:06.

Shots on Goal–Alaska 6-12-4–22 . MTU 3-4-11–18

Power-play opportunities–Alaska 1-5. MTU 0-5.

Goalies–Alaska, Grigals 3-3-10–16. MTU, Jurusik 6-9-4–19

Face-offs–Alaska 34 (Newton 21). MTU 28 (Smith 11).

A–3,701. T–2:15.

Referees–Mike Forys, Jordan Lee. Linesmen–Dan Juopperi, Matthew Hampton.