FAIRBANKS, Alaska  – Junior Simon Kjellberg recorded a goal and an assist to lead the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's hockey team to a 4-1 victory over the University of Alaska Fairbanks on Friday night at Carlson Center. With the win, the Engineers improve to 8-8-2 overall, while the Nanooks drop to 1-12-0.

Senior Kyle Hallbauer opened the scoring at 13:44 of the first period, firing home a shot from the right point after the Engineers won an offensive zone face-off. Junior Zach Dubinsky send the draw back to classmate Simon Kjellberg, who quickly snapped it along the blue line to Hallbauer for the tally – his second of the season.

Just over two minutes later, Kjellberg doubled the RPI lead on the power play. Catching a pass at the top of the zone, Kjellberg made a move towards the middle of the slot and ripped a shot just under the crossbar for his third goal of the year. Sophomore John Beaton collected the lone assist on the play.

The Nanook outshot Rensselaer, 10-5, in the scoreless middle period, aided by a five-minute major power play chance after sophomore Jack Agnew received a game misconduct for hitting after the whistle. Engineers graduate student Linden Marshall stood strong between the pipes, turning away six shots on the long kill.

Graduate student Justin Addamo added an insurance tally just 1:21 into the third. Senior Jakub Lacka worked the puck up the right wing boards and into the offensive zone, before throwing a pass ahead to sophomore Jack Brackett. A centering pass was then made to Addamo, who lifted a shot past Alaska junior goaltender Gustavs Davis Grigals.

Alaska got on the board with an extra-attacker, power play tally at 16:29. Garrett Pyke took a shot from the blue line that took a deflection off an RPI defender and past Marshall to draw the hosts within 3-1. Assists on the goal went to Chase Dubois and Filip Fornaa Svennson.

The Engineers potted an empty-net goal with nine seconds left to cap the scoring. Senior Ottoville Leppanen collected a loose puck in the left circle and centered a pass to Jakob Lee for the tap-in finish.

Marshall (8-7-2) made 34 saves to earn the victory in net, while Grigals (1-10-0) had 19 stops at the other end of the ice.  

Both teams are back in action tomorrow night for game two of a four-game series. Puck drop is 11pm ET.