Sports

Aces roar back for first win, rallying 6-4 at Stockton

And, exhale Alaska Aces.

The winless ECHL hockey team that would have gladly pocketed a victory of any kind -- pretty, ugly, lucky, gifted -- secured its first win this season in a goal-fest Friday night, beating host Stockton 6-4.

Not that the end of a four-game losing streak came easy for a club that had scored just five goals in that skid and was coming off a 6-3 loss in Bakersfield one night earlier. The Aces twice rallied from two-goal deficits and also rebounded after the Thunder tied the game 4-4 early in the third period at Stockton Arena.

And even though rookie goaltender Niklas Lundstrom has struggled early this season, it wasn't as if his teammates had his back with goal support in his first three starts. Friday's six goals were twice the number his club scored when he was in the net in his first three starts.

Lundstrom, a Swede, stopped 29 shots for his first victory in North America.

Rookie winger Ryan Tesink bagged his first pro goal, the game-winner, early in the third period, just 64 seconds after Robin Soudek forged a 4-4 tie for Stockton. Center Jason Gregoire scored into an empty net with 65 seconds left for his second goal of the evening.

"We scored, that's the main thing,'' Aces coach Rob Murray said by cellphone. "We still have to defend better.''

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Winning wasn't the only turnabout for the Aces. They also delivered a four-goal outburst in the second period, no small thing considering their previous trouble scoring and the hard-to-miss data they had been outscored 10-1 in the middle periods of those matches.

The game began as a here-we-go-again drama for the Aces when Stockton's Peter Sivak, the former Aces sniper who helped them to the Kelly Cup last season, and Thunder defenseman Adam Phillips scored inside the opening 15 minutes. Returning Aces understand Sivak's strength -- he scored 31 goals and was the team's leading scorer last season, when he was All-ECHL, and he has scored 66 goals in 135 career ECHL games.

Aces rookie winger Olivier Archambault got Alaska rolling just 75 seconds into the second period with his second goal in two nights. James Henry restored Stockton's two-goal lead at 3-1 just four minutes later.

Then the Aces engineered their onslaught, a barrage of three goals in 11:50. Gregoire scored his first goal as an Ace, Tim Coffman racked his second goal in two nights -- his marker was just Alaska's second power-play strike in 22 chances this season -- and rookie winger Greg Wolfe scored off an Archambault rebound for a 4-3 lead.

That cushion held until the second intermission, marking the first time this season the Aces have led entering the third period.

Murray said he challenged his team during the first intermission, when it trailed 2-0.

"I didn't get mad -- I wasn't screaming,'' Murray said. "I had my kind of fatherly voice going. I said, 'We're not playing with enough urgency, and if anyone should be, it's us.'

"In general, we played that way the rest of the night.''

Even though the Aces were coming off a loss 24 hours earlier, Murray said he saw signs of progress in that defeat in Bakersfield and hoped it would carry over in Stockton.

"We took a step in the right direction (Thursday),'' Murray said. "We played a better game. My expectation was we would be better (Friday). My only concern was we had a three-and-a-half-hour bus trip (Thursday) night and (Stockton) didn't play.''

Alaska closes its three-game, California road trip Saturday night with another game in Stockton.

Shuffling the deck

Aces center Chris Francis (one assist) led all players with seven shots on goal and Archambault fired six. Archambault has 2-2--4 totals and 11 shots on goal in the last two games.

Winger Bryan Cameron and defenseman Colton Jobke each furnished two assists.

The Aces killed all four Thunder power plays, marking the first time this season their penalty-killing crew has delivered a clean sheet.

Sivak had one goal and one assist, and was plus-3. Not surprising for a guy who last season with the Aces was second in the league in scoring and led the circuit with a ridiculous plus-49.

Reach Doyle Woody at dwoody@alaskadispatch.com, check out his blog at adn.com/hockey-blog and follow him on Twitter at @JaromirBlagr

Aces 0 4 2 -- 6

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Stockton 2 1 1 -- 4

First Period – 1, Stockton, Sivak 2 (Pereira, Shattock), 4:53; 2, Stockton, Phillips 1 (Henry, Soudek), 14:19. Penalties – Cameron, Aces (hooking), 6:17; Stockton bench minor, served by Pereira (too many men), 7:44; Cole, Aces (high-sticking), 9:48.

Second Period – 3, Aces, Archambault 2 (Jobke), 1:15; 4, Stockton, Henry 2 (Phillips, Sivak), 5:25; 5, Aces, Gregoire 1 (Connolly, Cameron), 6:39; 6, Aces, Coffman 2 (Francis, Cameron), 10:19 (pp); 7, Aces, Wolfe 1 (Archambault, Cole), 18:29. Penalties – Leduc, Stockton (interference), 1:34; Constant, Stockton (roughing), 9:01; Soudek, Stockton (roughing), 10:33; Sproule, Aces (roughing), 10:33; Jobke, Aces (boarding), 15:43.

Third Period – 8, Stockton, Soudek 3 (Henry), 4:32; 9, Aces, Tesink 1 (Jobke), 5:36; 10, Aces, Gregoire 2, 18:55 (en). Penalties – Richard, Aces (holding), 9:51.

Shots on goal – Aces 11-16-11—38. Stockton 14-12-7—33.

Power-play Opportunities – Aces 1 of 3. Stockton 0 of 4.

Goalies – Aces, Lundstrom, 1-3-1 (33 shots-29 saves). Stockton, Trudeau, 1-1-0 (37-32).

A – 3,508 (9,737). T – 2:19.

Referee – Stephen Reneau. Linesmen – Brett Martin, Tanner Nua.

Doyle Woody

Doyle Woody covered hockey and other sports for the Anchorage Daily News for 34 years.

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