Aces score 6 in the first to defeat Bakersfield

Each club had endured nine straight matches without being able to subdue an opponent in 60 minutes.

The puck’s in Wheeling’s end now. The Aces shrugged off their disappointment, frustration and regret with a 7-1 laugher Saturday over the Bakersfield Condors at Sullivan Arena.

Wheeling’s skid, meanwhile, hit 10 games with a 6-5 overtime loss to Johnstown.

The Aces (8-4-2) didn’t have to wait long to shed their shame. The Aces’ six first-period goals — the first four generated in a span of less than six minutes — marked more goals than they had scored in any of their previous 13 games this season.

Alaska chased former NHL goaltender Justin Pogge inside of nine minutes, riddling him for four goals on just six shots and pumping up an announced crowd of 5,835.

“The way we started, it was nice,” said Aces winger Colin Hemingway, who scored twice and furnished an assist. “You feed off the crowd, and everyone wants to get into it.”

Before Saturday, the Aces had not secured victory in regulation since a 5-2 victory at Las Vegas on Oct. 22. The nine-game stretch without a regulation win marked the longest such drought in the club’s six-plus seasons in the ECHL. Yet it was over, for practical purposes, before the Aces and Condors even headed to their respective dressing rooms for the first intermission.

“It’s huge to get a win over a team like that, that’s so good on paper,” said Aces defenseman Nick Tuzzolino, who scored a goal, assisted on another and posted a game-best, plus-five rating. “It’s good for our confidence, good for the chemistry of our lines and good for our room.”

The Aces also received the first two professional goals of Nick Mazzolini’s career. The rookie center from Anchorage sandwiched his goals around the first pro strike from Condors rookie Nick Kemp in a span of just 80 seconds late in the first period.

Alaska also received three assists from winger Curtis Fraser, two assists each from captain Scott Burt and winger Matt Stefanishion, and a goal and a helper from center Alexandre Imbeault.

And Alaska goaltender Sebastian Dahm turned in a sharp performance. He stopped 36 shots, including penalty shots by former UAF forward Adam Naglich and Logan MacMillan. Dahm became the first ECHL goalie this season to face two penalty shots in the same game.

Pogge, who backstopped Friday’s 3-2 overtime win against the Aces in the first of five consecutive meetings between the clubs — they play a three-game series in California beginning Friday — struggled from the outset.

Imbeault whistled a wrister through him less than three minutes into the game. Defenseman T.J. Fast followed with a backdoor tap-in. Hemingway flicked a wrister off Pogge and in, and Tuzzolini flicked a dart over his glove to make it 4-0 just 8:44 into the game.

Mazzolini struck twice against Pogge’s replacement, Timo Pielmeier. His first pro goal came on a backhander from the slot off a pass from Burt.

“I think it was meant for (Matt Stefanishion) — he was behind me and I didn’t know it — and I swooped in on it,” Mazzolini said. “Thankfully, it went off pipe and in.”

The Aces complemented their effort with a relatively rare display of discipline. The four power plays they permitted Bakersfield (8-6-0) were the second-fewest they have afforded an opponent this season.

“I was talking to (teammate B.J.) Crum before the game and we said, 'We need to jump on these guys,’ ” Mazzolini said. “We stayed out of the box, kept it five-on-five, stuck to our systems and took it to them.

“We had something to prove after (Friday) night.”

The Aces played with just five defensemen instead of the usual six. Defenseman Tyson Marsh, who suffered a severed tendon just above his right ankle when sliced by a skate Friday, underwent surgery Saturday and will be out two to three months. Defenseman Lee Green sat out with a concussion suffered Friday. Defenseman Ryan Turek already was out with a concussion.

With just five blueliners, Aces coach Brent Thompson dressed 11 forwards. That group included winger Justin Johnson of Anchorage, who made his regular-season debut after breaking his left hand in a fight in an exhibition game. Also moved into the lineup was veteran winger Eric Boguniecki, who furnished an assist.

Blowouts like Saturday’s game occasionally turn into sideshows replete with fights and generally chippy play. But both sides kept it fairly Lady Byng.

“In a game like that, it can get ugly,” Hemingway said. “They were classy and stayed professional, and we did the same.” Shuffling the deck

• Veteran winger Lance Galbraith, who has managed just one goal and one assist in 10 games and is a team-worst minus-12, was a healthy scratch. Ditto for rookie center Chris Morehouse.

• Boguniecki changed his sweater number to No. 70 from No. 14.

• Dahm pinned Naglich’s penalty-shot wrister beneath his pad. He gloved MacMillan’s bid cleanly.

• Pogge returned to start the second period and finished strong by stopping 21 of 22 shots over the final 40 minutes.

• The Condors played without NHL veteran winger Kyle Calder, who had one goal and one assist Friday but flew out of Anchorage on Saturday morning after being called up by the Anaheim Ducks.

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Find Doyle Woody’s blog at adn.com/hockeyblog or call him at 257-4335.

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Bakersfield 1 0 0 — 1

Aces 6 0 1 — 7

First Period — 1, Aces, Imbeault 4 (Fraser, Hemingway), 2:56; 2, Aces, Fast 1 (Stefanishion, Burt), 5:27; 3, Aces, Hemingway 7 (Fraser), 6:32; 4, Aces, Tuzzolino 3 (Imbeault, Stefanishion), 8:44; 5, Aces, Mazzolini 1 (Burt), 17:00; 6, Bakersfield, Kemp 1 (Naglich, Pokulok), 17:55; 7, Aces, Mazzolini 2 (Kana, Boguniecki), 18:20. Penalties — Weller, Bakersfield (tripping), 6:41; de Gray, Bakersfield (slashing), 7:06; Aces bench minor, served by Combs (too many men), 8:14.

Second Period — None. Penalties — Mitera, Bakersfield (hooking), 12:12; Hemingway, Aces (holding), 12:55; Mitera, Bakersfield (slashing), 16:50.

Third Period — 8, Aces, Hemingway 8 (Fraser, Tuzzolino), 13:48. Penalties — Brosnihan, Aces (boarding), 2:45; Naglich, Bakersfield (hooking), 6:51; Tuzzolino, Aces (slashing), 16:52; Bickel, Bakersfield (hooking), 19:13.

Missed penalty shots — Naglich, Bakersfield, 4:15 second period; MacMillan, Bakersfield, 1:41 third period.

Shots on goal — Bakersfield 13-9-15—37. Aces 13-14-8—35.

Power-play Opportunities — Bakersfield 0 of 4; Aces 0 of 5.

Goalies — Bakersfield, Pogge, 4-2-0, pulled 8:44 first period, back at 0:00 second (29 shots-24 saves); Pielmeier, entered 8:44 first period (6-4). Aces, Dahm, 5-3-0 (37-36).

A — 5,835 (6,251). T — 2:30.

Referee — Tim Mayer. Linesmen — Scott Sivulich, Travis Jackson.