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Seven and a half months of work will come down to one game.

The Fairbanks Ice Dogs made sure of that Friday night.

Andrew McCabe scored two goals and the whole team played with renewed effort as the Ice Dogs claimed a 3-1 victory in a must-win game at the Kansas Expocentre in Topeka, Kan.

The win evened the best-of-five North American Hockey League playoff series at 2-2, leaving Game 5 at at 1:05 p.m. ADT Sunday to determine the South Division champion.

“It’s definitely a great feeling, that’s playoff hockey in a nutshell,” McCabe said. “That’s what you sign up to play the sport for, the Game 5 modes.”

After seeing a two-goal lead turn into a loss in Game 4, Ice Dogs coach Rob Proffitt challenged his team in the locker room, calling on three of his captains — McCabe, John Lennartson and Cody Reichard — to play better.

Afterward, Proffitt couldn’t help but wonder if he pushed too hard. He got his answer Friday.

“I challenged three people very hard, I challenged John Lennartson as being a 20-year-old who I thought wasn’t the best he could be last night, and he played great tonight,” Proffitt said. “I challenged McCabe to put somebody on your back and carry him and he came through with two goals. I challenged Cody Reichard — it’s tough to challenge that cat because he’s so good — and he was awesome.”

Reichard turned away 30 of the 31 shots he faced one day after allowing five goals.

“Coach called a couple guys out in the locker room. The guys he called out, and the team, everyone just responded well,” said Reichard, one of the league’s top goaltenders all season. “Coach demands a lot out of everyone; when you don’t answer the bell, you know he’s going to come after you.”

The Ice Dogs answered the bell right from the start this time, taking the lead 6:31 into the game on McCabe’s first goal.

Working on the power play, McCabe sent a pass to Aaron Stonacek, who flung the shot on net.

Topeka netminder Bryce Merriam couldn’t control the puck and the rebound squirted into the slot.

After Guran failed to bury the shot, McCabe found the puck on his stick and he finished the job.

“That’s how we’re going to score power-play goals this time of year,” McCabe said.

After a scoreless second, McCabe put Fairbanks up 2-0 at the 5:06 mark of the third period off a nice feed from Ryan Santana.

After the Ice Dogs dumped the puck into the Topeka zone, Santana won a battle for the puck in the corner and slid a pass to a trailing McCabe in the slot. McCabe then beat Merriam for what proved to be the decisive goal.

“That was a nice hard-working play by Santana,” McCabe said. “It never would have happened if he didn’t work hard on the forecheck to get the puck.”

Arthur Bidwill then padded the Fairbanks lead with a power-play tally at the 8:40 mark of the final frame off helpers from Jon Waggoner and Matt Carlson.

Topeka’s lone score would come at 18:45 of the third, when Dennis Brown notched a power-play tally off an assist from defenseman Aaron Gens, an Alaska Nanooks recruit.

“Everyone played great. The forwards were backchecking, helping out the D-men, the defense was playing great, everyone was laying down, blocking shots, doing everything they can to get the win,” Reichard said. “They had a couple grade-A scoring chances but the D did a great job keeping the majority of the shots to the outside.”

And now everything comes down to one game.

“When we had all the scheduling problems, if anyone tells me at that point in time, ‘Let’s play one game, winner takes all, loser goes home,’ I’d take that, no doubt,” Proffitt said. “And that’s where we’re at.

“They’ve got all the pressure, we’ve just got to go out and play.”