The Alaska Aces' ridiculous streak of shutout hockey ended Friday night in Boise, Idaho.
Their absurd string of consecutive goals was snuffed too.
But their winning streak remained alive, courtesy of Mark Guggenberger's 26 saves and another flurry of quick goals that spearheaded a comeback 5-2 victory over the Idaho Steelheads at CenturyLink Arena.
The Aces' ninth straight victory tied the second-longest winning streak in the club's 11 ECHL seasons -- it's the sixth time the franchise has reeled off nine straight -- and improved their road record to 5-0-0.
Alaska (9-1-0) on Saturday night aims for a sweep of three-game series.
On the day the Aces lost rookie goaltender Laurent Brossoit as the trickle-down from a four-player NHL trade between Calgary and Edmonton, Guggenberger showed why he was second-team All-ECHL last season and is 4-0-0 this season.
After Idaho's Tyler Gron and Brock Montgomery racked goals in the opening 10 minutes -- Gron's goal snapped Alaska's shutout streak at 216 minutes, 49 seconds and its consecutive goal streak at 17 -- the Aces answered in ferocious fashion.
Tim Coffman scored 28 seconds after Montgomery and team-leading scorer Peter Sivak followed 32 seconds later to forge a 2-2 tie.
Brendan Connolly roofed a power-play one-timer later in the period to give the Aces three goals -- and a 3-2 edge -- in a span of 6:31. That marks the sixth time this season the Aces have scored three or more goals in a stretch of less than seven minutes.
Center Jordan Kremyr, who scored four goals in 45 games of an injury-plagued campaign last season, bagged his fourth goal in nine games this season with his strike early in the second period.
Evan Trupp closed the scoring with a third-period goal.
Sivak (one goal, one assist), captain Nick Mazzolini (two helpers) and Connolly (one goal, one assist) all enjoyed two-point nights.
Shuffling the deck
The Aces record for consecutive victories is 11, set by the 2005-06 team that seized the franchise's first Kelly Cup.
Alaska's five straight road wins ties the third-longest streak in its ECHL history. The franchise three times has won six straight road games, including once last season.
Coffman stretched his point streak to eight games and owns 4-8--12 totals in that span. Sivak, Trupp and Mazzolini each own seven-game streaks -- Sivak is 6-10--16 in that span, Trupp is 2-8--10 and Mazzolini is 3-7--10.
Alaska's first-period outburst of three goals marked the seventh time in 10 games it has scored three or more goals in a period.
Find Doyle Woody's blog at adn.com/hockeyblog.
Aces3 1 1 -- 5
Idaho2 0 0 -- 2
First Period -- 1, Idaho, Gron 1 (Goggin), 7:46; 2, Idaho, Montgomery 1 (Vause, Reum), 10:02; 3, Aces, Coffman 5 (Connolly), 10:30; 4, Aces, Sivak 6 (Mazzolini), 11:02; 5, Aces, Connolly (Richard, Syvret), 17:01 (pp). Penalties -- Gron, Idaho, major (fighting), 11:12; Mele, Aces, major (fighting), 11:12; Vause, Idaho (tripping), 14:28; Cullity, Idaho (roughing), 15:49.
Second Period -- 6, Aces, Kremyr 4 (Zuck), 1:46. Penalties -- Mercier, Idaho (tripping), 5:43; Crum, Aces (hooking), 9:14; Vause, Idaho (interference), 16:42.
Third Period -- 7, Aces, Trupp 4 (Sivak, Mazzolini), 16:40. Penalties -- Syvret, Aces (high-sticking), 9:12.
Shots on goal -- Aces 8-5-6--19. Idaho 13-8-7--28.
Power-play Opportunities -- Aces 1 of 4. Idaho 0 of 2.
Goalies -- Aces, Guggenberger, 4-0-0 (28 shots-26 saves). Idaho, Carrozzi, 0-1-0 (19-14).
A -- 4,089 (5,006). T -- 2:14.
Referee -- Ryan Murphy. Linesmen - Scott DeBaugh, Andrew Wetzel.
By DOYLE WOODY