Sports

Aces anguish: Two-goal lead squandered late in 4-3 shootout loss

The Alaska Aces squandered a two-goal lead with six minutes left in regulation.

They butchered a four-minute power play in overtime.

And they delivered some pitiful shootout bids in going 0 for 5 in the skills contest.

All that transpired Saturday night on home ice at Sullivan Arena, where the Aces wasted a glorious opportunity at completing a three-game sweep of the Bakersfield Condors and fell 4-3 in their first shootout of the ECHL season.

Happy hockey holidays!

Uh, nope -- at least not for one night for the home team entering the holiday break, which keeps the Aces (12-13-1) idle until New Year's Eve, when they entertain the Utah Grizzlies.

Alaska's pedestrian power play in overtime, furnished when Bakersfield's Jonathan Lessard clipped defenseman Colten Hayes with his stick just 12 seconds into extra time, left Aces bench boss Rob Murray furious. The Aces mostly passed the puck around during the 4 on 3 advantage – overtime in the ECHL begins with teams skating 4 on 4 – and then mixed in a couple of unforced errors.

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"Awful,'' said Murray, who prefaced that judgment with an adjective that rhymes with puck.

"We were lucky to get a point,'' Murray said.

The Aces had ample chances to seize a sweep after winning 6-1 Wednesday and 5-2 Friday.

Outside the visitors' dressing room, Condors coach J.F. Houle was happy to head to the airport with two points pocketed, particularly in light of his club's loss Friday, when it enjoyed an abundance of great scoring chances but was stymied by Aces rookie goaltender Niklas Lundstrom.

"We needed that,'' Houle said of victory, "because (Friday) we deserved a better fate.''

Trailing 3-1 after Aces leading scorer Olivier Archambault whipped a breakaway wrister through Frans Tuohimaa's pads with seven minutes left in regulation, the Condors roared back on a goal from Kellen Jones, then the extra-attacker equalizer from Brendan Brooks with 70 seconds left.

Bakersfield's Sebastien Sylvestre scored the only goal of the shootout, slipping a backhand between Lundstrom's pads in the fourth round.

Brooks basically spent Wednesday night through Saturday morning holed up in his hotel room, suffering from the flu. He showed up at the team's morning meeting Saturday and convinced Houle he could play.

"If we didn't have the break coming, I probably wouldn't have played,'' Brooks said. "It's the last game before the break, so might as well leave it out there.

"It was a burning-lung (night). I just didn't have the energy. As the game went on, I felt better after sweating. But it was a struggle.''

Brooks is 36, an advanced age in the ECHL, where nearly all players are in their 20s. He played the seven previous seasons in Europe, yet with 7-8—15 totals in 14 games for Bakersfield (15-12-3) has shown he remains dangerous.

"He still has a lot of legs for his age,'' Houle said.

Bakersfield's comeback came after it botched a two-man advantage that lasted for 1:52 early in the third period. The Condors twice went offside and twice committed offensive-zone turnovers. Just as in the Aces' wasted power play in overtime, failure to score was more a function of offensive ineptitude than phenomenal penalty-killing.

One upside for the Aces was that center Tim Coffman snapped his 19-game goal drought. He was a healthy scratch Friday. During his goal funk, which came after scoring two goals in his first three games of the season, Coffman did generate 16 assists.

"I didn't think I was playing bad,'' Coffman said. "I'm hard on myself. I had a few rough games sprinkled in, like anyone.

"Maybe it was good to sit out a game and not think about it. It was really starting to irritate me.''

After Connor Jones scored just 26 seconds into the game to earn the Condors a 1-0 lead, Coffman answered three minutes later. Positioned near the top of the crease, he stopped teammate Corbin Baldwin's shot on his backhand, transferred the puck to his forehand and roofed a shot over Tuohimaa.

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Later in the first period, Coffman raced off the bench on a line change, skating into Raphael Bussieres' lead pass and whipped a wrister past Tuohimaa's blocker for a 2-1 lead. After getting nothing out of 57 shots on goal in that 19-game drought, Coffman suddenly had two goals on two shots.

And that at least gave him some solace heading into the holiday break.

"If I had to sit for a week, thinking about it, I'd have been miserable,'' Coffman said.

Shuffling the deck

Archambault's team-leading 16th goal gives him 16-12—28 totals in 26 games. He ranks tied for fifth in ECHL scoring and second among rookies. He's tied for third on the circuit in goals and tied for first among rookies.

Archambault owns 8-6—14 totals in eight games against the Condors.

Bussieres' two assists gives him 1-9—10 totals in seven games for Alaska. Defenseman Corey Syvret's two assists gives him 4-6—10 totals in 22 games.

The shootout loss snapped Alaska's seven-game winning streak on home ice.

Murray did some line-juggling for the third period. He moved winger Tyler Currier from the first line to the third line and elevated winger Ryan Walters from the third line to the first line.

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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

Condors win shootout 1-0

Bakersfield 1 0 2 1 -- 4

Aces 2 0 1 -- 3

First Period – 1, Bakersfield, C. Jones 10 (Pageau, K. Jones), :26; 2, Aces, Coffman 3 (Baldwin, Molle), 3:27; 3, Aces, Coffman 4 (Bussieres, Syvret), 14:58. Penalties – Currier, Aces (roughing), 4:01; Lessard, Bakersfield (roughing), 4:01; Currier, Aces, major (fighting), 15:45; Craig, Bakersfield, major (fighting), 15:45.

Second Period -- None. Penalties – Bussieres, Aces (boarding), 3:42; Watson, Bakersfield (goaltender interference), 4:40.

Third Period – 4, Aces, Archambault 16 (Bussieres, Syvret), 13:05; 5, Bakersfield, K. Jones 7 (Verspaelst, Sylvestre), 14:10; 6, Bakersfield, Brooks 7 (Schaber, Marciano), 18:50. Penalties – Cole, Aces (roughing), 3:39; Molle, Aces (elbowing), 3:47.

Overtime – None. Penalties – Lessard, Bakersfield, double-minor (high-sticking), :12.

Shootout – Bakersfiled 1 (C. Jones NG, Brooks NG, C. Jones NG, Sylvestre G), Aces 0 (Archambault NG, Francis NG, Bussieres NG, Connolly NG).

Shots on goal – Bakersfield 8-8-12-2—30. Aces 13-5-8-3—29.

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

Goalies – Bakersfield, Tuohimaa, 7-4-2 (29 shots-26 saves). Aces, Lundstrom, 10-10-1 (30-27).

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A – 4,482 (6,399). T – 2:30.

Referee – Stephen Reneau. Linesmen – Steve Glines, Josh Ellis.

Doyle Woody

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

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