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Well, the Alaska Aces certainly aren't boring, not when even the best thing to happen to them lately -- an actual ECHL hockey win, on the road, no less -- came complete with drama, intrigue and, naturally, injury.
Not to put too fine a point on the Aces' 5-2 victory Friday night at Utah, but you'll sooner see a goaltender rack a hat trick than another goalie face the kind of head-shaking, jaw-dropping challenge Alaska's Scott Reid confronted in net. It wasn't so much that Reid faced two penalty shots -- heck, Alaska's Sebastian Dahm dealt with that dilemma in a game two weeks ago, and snuffed both. Reid went one better -- he faced consecutive penalty shots by the same dude, Vlady Nikiforov, based on Alaska's infractions in the same sequence. With the Aces leading 2-1 just shy of six minutes into the game -- Eric Boguniecki and Nick Tuzzolino struck for the Aces and Tom May countered for the Grizzlies -- Nikiforov was sprung on a breakaway. First, Aces defenseman Derick Martin tripped Nikiforov from behind -- that's grounds for a penalty shot. But Martin's defensive partner, Ryan Turek, also was ruled by referee J.M. McNulty to have deliberately knocked the net off its moorings later in the play, and that also is grounds for a penalty shot. Thus did Nikiforov receive two penalty shots -- that is, if he needed both. Had he scored on the first one, the second would have been moot. Reid rendered all of it moot. He rebuffed Nikoforov's first bid, watched the Grizzlies forward retreat back to center ice for a do-over, then denied Nikiforov again. Tough evening for Nikiforov -- he got stymied on penalty shots, didn't register a point despite a game-high six shots on goal and went minus-3. Those penalty-shot highlights were among 36 saves Reid delivered on a night when the Aces snapped their four-game losing streak and extinguished the Grizzlies' six-game winning streak; John Lammers returned to spark the Aces' offense; the Aces scored a rare, at least lately, power-play goal (Lammers); and Aces leading scorer Colin Hemingway left the game midway through. Hemingway said he felt woozy and is questionable for tonight's series finale at The E-Center in West Valley City. After May forged a 2-2 tie with a goal late in the power play, Reid slammed the door on the Grizzlies. The Aces earned a 4-2 lead when rookie Nick Mazzolini and Lammers scored less than three minutes apart in the second period. Mazzolini bagged his fifth goal in just 10 pro games and Lammers picked up where he left off when he signed with Manitoba of the American Hockey League a month ago. Lammers' power-play strike marked just the Aces' fifth power-play goal in 61 chances over a stretch of 11-plus games. Lammers, who assisted on Boguniecki's strike less than two minutes into his first Aces game since being released by the Moose earlier this week, also added an empty-net insurance goal. In just seven matches for Alaska, he has produced eight goals and four assists for 12 points. He provides a boost to special teams, too -- he has generated three power-play goals and two short-handed goals. Lammers, Boguniecki and Mazzolini played together on a line, and produced three goals and seven points -- Boguniecki and Mazzolini each furnished one goal and one assist. Hemingway apparently was injured in a first-period collision. He played a bit in the second period, but exchanged his gear for civilian clothes during the second intermission. The Aces know injuries. Winger Matt Stefanishion sat out Friday, and is listed as day-to-day with a hip injury. Winger Curtis Fraser (dislocated shoulder) and defenseman Tyson Marsh (surgery to repair a severed ankle tendon) are both out long-term. And defenseman Lee Green (concussion) has missed six straight matches. At no point this season has first-year Alaska coach Brent Thompson had his entire roster healthy and available. Just 19 games into the season, nine different Aces have missed a combined 73 games with injuries. Also, Dahm and defenseman T.J. Fast are up in the AHL with Peoria, Alaska's affiliate in the league one rung below the NHL. Still, the most important thing for the Aces on Friday simply was that they won. That four-game losing streak matched the club's second-longest in six-plus seasons in the ECHL. Only a five-game slide, all on the road, by the 2007-08 team, was worse. Shuffling the deck Reid improved his save percentage to .924, third-best in the ECHL. Boguniecki has played just seven games for the Aces, but the former NHLer already is on his third sweater number -- Friday, he switched to No. 11, the digits he wore in junior. Boguniecki began his Aces career in No. 14, then switched to No. 70, then Friday switched again to No. 11. That No. 11 had been worn by rookie winger Jack Combs, who evidently will wear No. 21, which he wore two seasons ago in major-junior.