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On the wrong end of four unanswered goals, the Fairbanks Ice Dogs find themselves 60 minutes away from the end of the best season in team history.

Though Ice Dogs coach Rob Proffitt thought his team lacked their usual fire right from the first puck drop, the Ice Dogs held a two-goal lead in the waning seconds of the second period. But it was all Topeka from then on out and the RoadRunners claimed a 5-3 win Thursday at the Kansas Expocentre in Topeka, Kan.

“We didn’t play very well the first two periods. With 55 seconds left, we’re up 3-1 and we didn’t have the jump, the jam or the energy we needed,” Proffitt said.

The loss left the Ice Dogs trailing 2-1 in the best-of-five North American Hockey League playoff series, making today’s 4:05 p.m. showdown a must-win if the Ice Dogs want to keep their season, and chances of advancing to the Robertson Cup Tournament in St. Louis alive.

“The thing is now, you’ve just got to be ready to go tomorrow,” Proffitt said. “Now it’s do-or-die. Every time this team has been backed up against a wall, they’ve responded.”

It may have been different if they Ice Dogs defense could have just found a way to hold Topeka at bay for 47 more seconds in the second period.

That’s how much time was left on the clock when Corey Jendras turned a comfortable cushion into a one-goal game, taking advantage of assists from Josh Kamrass and Reed Seckel.

The Ice Dogs held on to their one-goal advantage until late in the third period, when Bryon Paulazzon evened the game off an Eriah Hayes assist at the 14:14 mark.

That proved to be the goal Fairbanks couldn’t recover from.

“When they tied it up, we had one good shift and then, I think we were shell shocked,” Proffitt said. “We didn’t do a good job when we needed to. You know what? That’s playoffs, that’s part of growing.”

Matt Hartman gave Topeka their first lead of the night at the 18:36 mark of the final frame, beating Fairbanks netminder Cody Reichard (30 saves) off a Jordan George helper, and Eriah Hayes scored an empty-netter a minute later to seal the win.

The Ice Dogs were outshot 35-20, though most of the RoadRunners’ tries came from the outside. But Fairbanks struggled all night to clear Topeka’s traffic in front of the net, letting the RoadRunners poke in rebounds.

“Three of their (goals) never hit the back of the net,” Proffitt said. “They got some shots but they were from the outside. We did a good job keeping them on the perimeter, but we were flat-footed, standing around.”

Fairbanks got on the board first when Eric Kraft redirected a Peter Kavaya shot for a power-play tally at 11:17 of the first period.

“Nick Guran then put Fairbanks up by two scores 7:21 into the second, going top shelf off assists from Ryan Santana and Alex McRae.

“Guran absolutely undressed a defenseman and put it up under the bar,” Proffitt said. “It was ridiculous.”

Travis Stevens scored for Topeka 30 seconds later, but forward Jon Waggoner regained Fairbanks’ two-goal advantage at on a power play at the 15:20 mark, burying the puck on a 2-on-1 breakaway.

But Fairbanks’ normally stalwart defense couldn’t protect the lead, giving the Ice Dogs no margin for error the rest of the way.

“This is nothing new to me, we’ve never taken the easy way,” Proffitt said.

If Fairbanks wins today, it will force a Game 5, which is set for 1:05 p.m. on Sunday.

And Proffitt’s sure his team will force Game 5.

“We’ll take the hard way and we’ll get it knotted up tomorrow night, I guarantee you that,” he said. “I know my guys pretty good. I think they will respond. Today doesn’t matter because tomorrow’s a new day.”