Sports

So long 7-game winning streak: Stockton 5, Aces 3

The Alaska Aces' seven-game winning streak, the second-longest stretch of success in the ECHL this hockey season, was halted Saturday night when they fell 5-3 to the Stockton Thunder on the road.

Stockton's Sebastian Collberg scored the game-winning strike with three minutes left and Tyler Shattock added an empty-net goal in the last minute to prevent the Aces from sweeping the three-game series at Stockton Arena in California.

The Aces won the first two games of the series, posting a dramatic 4-3 overtime win Thursday and a 6-4 victory Saturday.

Alaska (10-10-0), which had won eight of its previous nine games, continues a six-game roadie this week with one game against the Utah Grizzlies and two against the Idaho Steelheads.

The Allen Americans' eight-game winning streak remains the standard this season on the 28-team circuit.

The Aces' scoring came from a couple of usual suspects -- center Chris Francis and winger Olivier Archambault -- and a defenseman who began the season as the unlikeliest of suspects to score but is altering that perspective.

Francis' first-period, power-play goal marked his sixth goal in the last nine games and gave him 6-7—13 totals in that span.

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Archambault, a rookie sniper, furnished his team-high 13th goal. He has scored a goal in three straight games and in five of the last six games. He's basically playing like a guy who wants to prove he belongs in the American Hockey League.

The other Aces goal came from rookie defenseman Quinn Sproule, who has scored four goals in 17 games. In his four seasons at UAA, Sproule never scored more than three goals in a season and scored just five goals in 138 career games. He owns 4-4—8 totals this season.

Aces winger Brendan Connolly had his eight-game point streak snapped. He entered with goals in three straight games and 4-13—17 totals during his eight-game streak.

Alaska goaltender Niklas Lundstrom (31 saves) had his personal six-game winning streak snapped.

Shuffling the deck

Francis' power-play goal was Alaska's first with the man advantage in four games. The Aces had gone 0 for 14 in the previous three games and just 1 of 18 in the previous four. They went 1 for 5 Saturday.

Newcomer Raphael Bussieres, who the Minnesota Wild assigned to the Aces from Iowa of the AHL on Friday, furnished two assists Saturday and delivered 1-3—4 totals in his first two games with Alaska.

The Aces are 6-2-0 against the Thunder (9-12-1) this season.

Former Aces winger Peter Sivak, who helped them to the Kelly Cup last season, had a goal for the Thunder.

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

Aces 2 1 0 -- 3

Stockton 1 2 2 -- 5

First Period – 1, Stockton, Levi 3 (MacLellan, Collberg), 1:55 (pp); 2, Aces, Francis 7 (Richard, Walters), 4:42 (pp); 3, Aces, Archambault 13 (Bussieres, Coffman), 10:37. Penalties – Francis, Aces (tripping), 1:21; Sutter, Stockton (interference), 4:00.

Second Period – 4, Stockton, Sivak 7 (Shattock, Henry), :53; 5, Stockton, Boutin 3 (Hunt, Barnett), 12:24; 6, Aces, Sproule 4 (Bussieres, Archambault), 12:53. Penalties – Sivak, Stockton (holding), 2:51; Cameron, Aces (goaltender interference), 2:51; Mallet, Stockton (hooking), 4:19; Mallet, Stockton (roughing), 6:39; Sproule, Aces (roughing), 6:39; Hunt, Stockton (roughing), 18:00.

Third Period – 7, Stockton, Collberg 1 (Seabrook, Constant), 17:03; 8, Stockton, Shattock 7 (Constant, Henry), 19:08 (en). Penalties – Constant, Stockton (slashing), 6:52; Barnett, Stockton, major (fighting), 16:36; Richard, Aces, major (fighting), 16:36.

Shots on goal – Aces 13-12-8--33. Stockton 12-13-11--36.

Power-play Opportunities – Aces 1 of 5. Stockton 1 of 2.

Goalies – Aces, Lundstrom, 8-7-0 (35 shots-31 saves). Stockton, Simpson, 3-3-1 (33-30).

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A – 4,622 (9,737). T – 2:21.

Referee – Jake Brendt. Linesmen – Brett Martin, Brandon Gawryletz.

Doyle Woody

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

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