Sports

Home-ice horror: Aces have lost team-record 5 straight at Sullivan

Here's a distressing combination for the Alaska Aces: They cannot score goals with any regularity and they cannot keep opponents from scoring goals with regularity.

The merger of those two shortcomings has yielded home-ice, hockey heartache like Friday night's 4-2 loss to the visiting Bakersfield Condors, which saddled the Aces with a franchise-record five-game losing streak at Sullivan Arena.

Alaska (1-7-0) has yet to hold an opponent to fewer than three goals in a game. And only twice have the Aces scored as many as three goals in a game.

The Aces' power play, meanwhile, has proved an oxymoron. After Friday's failure on three chances with the man advantage, Alaska has converted just twice on 35 power-play opportunities (5.7-percent efficiency) this season. Only Orlando -- 1 of 33 for 3.0 percent -- has scuffled worse on the 28-team circuit.

And second periods at home have especially bedeviled the Aces. The Condors (7-4-0), who beat the Aces 3-2 Wednesday in the opener of a four-game series, outscored them 2-0 in the middle 20 minutes Friday to give opponents a 11-0 bulge on the Aces in second periods at Sullivan.

For the second straight game, rookie winger Greg Wolfe gave the Aces reason to harbor hope with a late goal that cut Bakersfield's lead to 3-2. Wolfe, who has a goal in four straight games, one-timed defenseman Quinn Sproule's pass from low in the left circle with 3:17 to go.

But the speedy, skilled Condors used an empty-net strike from captain Jordan Kremyr, the former Ace, in the waning seconds to collect their fifth win in the last six games. Bakersfield's other goals came from Josh Winquist, Kellen Jones and Sebastien Sylvestre, three of the eight rookies in its lineup.

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"We're fast, and I guess just having young legs is making us older guys faster,'' Kremyr said. "It's fun. We're just pushing one another out there.''

Alaska, which has lost three straight games overall, and Bakersfield continue a four-game series Saturday night and wrap it with a matinee Sunday.

The Aces only once in 11 previous ECHL seasons were sub-.500 through their first eight games – 3-4-1 in 2004-05.

Wolfe thinks the club's struggles to this point are not a case of being outworked, but a matter of execution.

"It's not a matter of work ethic,'' he said. "I think we're working hard. We could just work a little smarter. Like when we're battling for 50-50 pucks, we have to win more of those, and sometimes we have to step back, not try to do too much and keep things simple.''

Friday, the Aces cut down on the flurry of turnovers that plagued them in Wednesday's loss. And rookie goaltender Andy Iles' 30 saves on 33 shots (.909 save percentage) marked the first time they have received a single-game save percentage above .900 since opening night.

Still, their 2.00 goals per game rank last in the league. Although they did not pepper Bakersfield's Ty Rimmer (27 saves) like they unloaded on Frans Tuohimaa in his 40-save gem Wednesday, they enjoyed a decent amount of opportunities.

That was especially true of Alaska's second line of Tim Coffman centering wingers Wolfe and Olivier Archambault. That line accounted for both Aces goals Friday -- Coffman copped a first-period turnover at the Condors blue line and fed Archambault for a mini-breakaway -- and generated 11 of Alaska's 29 shots. In the last three games, that line has fired 46 shots on goal -- 17 from Archambault, 16 from Coffman and 13 from Wolfe -- and scored four of the team's five goals.

"We have a good understanding of each other out there,'' Coffman said. "And we're working hard at it, and not just relying on skill.

"Look at the shots we've had the last three games. If you get all those opportunities, you have to bear down and score goals. We're not fully happy with how we're doing.''

Wolfe leads the Aces with four goals, Archambault ranks second with three and Coffman is tied for third with two. They have combined for nine of Alaska's 16 goals this season.

So, really, the Coffman line has been Alaska's first line of late.

Shuffling the deck

Archambault's goal and assist marked his third two-point game of the season. The rest of the Aces have combined for three two-point games.

Winger Brendan Connolly, who has scored 22 goals or more in each of the last four ECHL seasons, is still seeking his first goal of the season. He's come up empty on 19 shots on goal, and Friday that included a breakaway Rimmer rebuffed late in the first period with the game tied 1-1.

Defenseman Brad Richard, who delivered 30 points in 62 games last season, when he made the ECHL's All-Rookie team, is still searching for his first point.

Defenseman Colten Hayes made his Aces debut, posting an even rating and one shot on goal.

Aces coach Rob Murray wasn't happy his team surrendered 17 first-period shots Wednesday. Friday, the Aces gave up 18 first-period shots.

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

Bakersfield 1 2 1 -- 4

Aces 1 0 1 -- 2

First Period – 1, Bakersfield, Winquist 4 (K. Jones, C. Jones), 3:11 (pp); 2, Aces, Archambault 3 (Coffman), 9:29. Penalties – Jobke, Aces (hooking), 2:34; Connolly, Aces (slashing), 3:06; Connolly, Aces (roughing), 13:07; K. Jones, Bakersfield (roughing), 13:07; Doty, Aces (roughing), 15:43; Sylvestre, Bakersfield (roughing), 15:43; Richard, Aces (hooking), 17:22; Bakersfield bench minor, served by MacNeil (too many men), 18:41.

Second Period – 3, Bakersfield, K. Jones 2 (C. Jones, Winquist), 4:24; 4, Bakersfield, Sylvestre 2 (Kremyr, MacNeil), 9:35. Penalties – Marciano, Bakersfield (slashing), 11:32.

Third Period – 5, Aces, Wolfe 4 (Sproule, Archambault), 16:43; 6, Bakersfield, Kremyr 3 (McKenzie, Nash), 19:38 (en). Penalties – Archambault, Aces (high-sticking), 3:03; C. Jones, Bakersfield (high-sticking), 7:13; Jobke, Aces (cross-checking), 14:22.

Shots on goal – Bakersfield 18-8-8—34. Aces 6-11-12—29.

Power-play Opportunities – Bakersfield 1 of 5. Aces 0 of 3.

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Goalies – Bakersfield, Rimmer, 5-4-0 (29 shots-27 saves). Aces, Iles, 0-2-0 (33-30).

A – 3,956 (6,399). T – 2:15.

Referee – Nic Leduc. Linesmen – Josh Ellis, Chad Colliander.

Doyle Woody

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

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