Justin Breton believes his natural hat trick Sunday was his first in eight years, since he was a 17-year-old playing prep-school hockey at Upper Canada College.
Jacob Doty believes his three-point production Sunday – one goal, two assists – marked his first three-point game in six years, since he was a 15-year-old skating for the Yellowstone Quake of Wyoming in a Tier III junior league.
Yep, it was that kind of Sunday laugher for the Alaska Aces – Breton and Doty helped spark an 8-5 cruise over the struggling Stockton Thunder.
And that Aces season high for goals wrapped their series-sweeping destruction – they outscored the Thunder 21-8 in three games.
The 21 goals at Sullivan Arena were the most the Aces have scored in three consecutive games in their 12 seasons on the ECHL circuit. Alaska beat Stockton, 6-1 on Saturday and 7-2 on Sunday.
More importantly, they seized all six points available in the series to move into solo fifth place in the Pacific Division, three points behind fourth-place Utah. The Aces, who have won six of their last seven games, own three games in hand on the Grizzlies, who hold the last playoff position in the division.
"We knew coming into the weekend it would be a big series,'' Doty said. "It's a good thing we got the six points we needed.''
The Aces (21-19-4) moved two games above .500 for the second time this season and finished a nine-game homestand at 6-2-1. The last-place Thunder (14-31-1), who got two goals from Tyler Maxwell, have lost 14 of their last 15 games.
Brendan Connolly, Bryan Cameron and Curt Gogol each furnished the Aces one goal and one assist, defenseman Brad Cole chipped in a goal, and Troy Redmann made 40 saves, albeit surrendering all five goals in a "who cares?'' third period. The Aces led 7-0 after 40 minutes.
The line of rookie center Greg Wolfe (two assists), and wingers Connolly and Chris Francis (two assists) went full Globetrotters on the Thunder. Wolfe (3-7—10), Connolly (4-5—9) and Francis (2-3—5) accounted for nine goals and 24 points in three games.
After racing to a 2-0 first-period lead Friday and a 4-0 first-period lead Saturday, the Aces split the difference Sunday by capturing a 3-0 lead on goals from Cole, Doty and Cameron, who scored for the fifth straight game.
"It's a contrast to the beginning of the season,'' Aces coach Rob Murray said of his club's strong starts. "I don't know whether we were timid (in the early season), trying to feel teams out, or what.
"Now, we have a confidence level where we say, 'We know what we have to do, so we're gonna do what we do.' ''
For Breton, a rookie winger from Bentley University, confidence and playing time have been a long time coming. He has been in and out of the lineup for most of the season, but has skated in 11 of the last 13 games. Breton, who possesses electric speed, has scored five goals in the last six games and all six of his goals in the last eight games.
"It's a great feeling,'' Breton said. "When you start to get a couple (goals), things start to go your way. It's all about paying attention to detail.''
Earlier in the season, Breton's principal work came as the 10th, or spare, forward, and in killing penalties. He's still killing penalties, and with call-ups to the American Hockey League and injuries thinning the Aces' lineup, also getting a regular third-line shift at left wing.
"He really had a hard time getting in any kind of groove, and I don't blame him,'' Murray said. "Now, he's finding consistency.''
Doty likewise has largely been a third-line wing who gets spot shifts. His playing time also has increased. He said his three points, one fewer than he produced in his first 35 games, was indicative of a team that knows how precious points are in the standings.
"Hard work and guys finishing their chances,'' Doty said.
Sunday's scoring outburst by the Aces marked the seventh time this season they have scored six or more goals, and the Thunder have been the punching bag six of those times.
Now things get more difficult for the Aces, who have 19 of their remaining 28 regular-season games on the road. They travel to California this week for a string of four games in five days, starting Friday, with two games at second-place Ontario and two at Bakersfield, which trails the Aces by two points.
Shuffling the deck
Connolly has scored 11 goals in the last 11 games and, with 19 goals, is just one shy of producing his fifth straight ECHL season of 22 goals or more.
Connolly owns 11-10—21 totals in the last 11 games – he has at least a point in 10 of those – and in 11 games against Stockton this season has delivered 7-16—23 totals.
Connolly's team-leading point total, 19-34—53 in 44 games, ties him for third in the league in points.
Wolfe's 17-31—48 totals in 44 games marks him as the top rookie scorer on the circuit and tied for eighth overall in scoring.
The Aces went 2 for 4 on the power play Sunday and 7 for 14 in the series. That raised their power-play efficiency, which was 14.6 percent to start the series, to 17.2 percent.
Stat-nerd alert!: The Aces opened their nine-game homestand with an 8-5 loss to Idaho and closed it with an 8-5 win over Stockton.
In 11 previous seasons, the Aces only twice played in 8-5 games – a season-ending playoff loss at Stockton in 2010 and a regular-season win at Stockton in 2007.
Reach Doyle Woody at dwoody@alaskadispatch.com, check out his blog at adn.com/hockey-blog and follow him on Twitter at @JaromirBlagr
Stockton 0 0 5 - 5
Alaska 3 4 1 - 8
1st Period -- 1, Alaska, Cole 6 (Cameron, Gogol), 7:54. 2, Alaska, Doty 2 (Tesink, Molle), 8:02. 3, Alaska, Cameron 6 (Connolly, Wolfe), 12:37 (pp). Penalties -- Seabrook Stk (tripping), 11:20; Connolly Ak (tripping), 17:07.
2nd Period -- 4, Alaska, Breton 4 2:23. 5, Alaska, Breton 5 (Wolfe, Francis), 12:25. 6, Alaska, Breton 6 (Doty), 12:58. 7, Alaska, Gogol 6 (Doty, Coffman), 14:27 (pp). Penalties -- served by Mallet Stk (unsportsmanlike conduct - disputing decision), 12:58; Hayes Ak (tripping), 15:17.
3rd Period -- 8, Stockton, Henry 8 (Hunt), 3:58 (sh). 9, Stockton, Maxwell 16 (Shattock, Scarsella), 7:34. 10, Stockton, Hunt 7 (Henry, Barnett), 11:25. 11, Alaska, Connolly 19 (Francis, Currier), 11:36. 12, Stockton, Maxwell 17 (Scarsella, Stebner), 16:14. 13, Stockton, Shattock 10 (Maxwell, Seabrook), 18:10. Penalties -- Maxwell Stk (slashing ), 3:27; Paulazzo Stk (interference), 14:36; Gogol Ak (roughing), 14:36; Reichard Stk (tripping), 17:31; Cole Ak (hooking), 17:56; Tesink Ak (tripping), 17:56.
Shots on Goal -- Stockton 14-13-18-45. Alaska 11-11-6-28.
Power Play Opportunities -- Stockton 0 of 4; Alaska 2 of 4.
Goalies -- Stockton, Reichard 6-13-1-1 (28 shots-20 saves). Alaska, Redmann 5-0-0-0 (45 shots-40 saves).
A -- 3,155
Referee -- Jake Brenk. Linesmen -- Josh Ellis (62), Scott Sivulich (73).