One night after Brendan Connolly was saddled with a minus-4 rating for just the second time in 370 ECHL games -- and that makes for a glide of shame to the dressing room – the Alaska Aces' fiery veteran winger rediscovered his customary form Saturday night.
He ruled the rink.
Connolly set up Greg Wolfe's first-period goal, delivered the game-winning strike deep into the third period and finished plus-2 in a 3-1 road win over the Ontario Reign.
Connolly's team-leading 26th goal extended his career-high and marked his sixth goal in the last five games since missing nine games with an upper-body injury. With 10 games remaining in the regular season, Connolly has delivered career-best numbers in all three primary scoring categories with 26-41—67 totals in just 53 games, and leads the Aces in all three categories.
He ranks seventh on the 28-team circuit in both assists and points. The 29-year-old, who last spring helped the Aces to the third Kelly Cup in franchise history, owns 48-68—116 totals and a plus-26 rating in 104 career regular-season games with Alaska.
"He came out and had a great game – goal, assist, drew a couple of penalties,'' Aces coach Rob Murray said by cellphone. "It was a great all-around performance.''
Alaska's victory squelched its two-game losing streak – the Aces fell to the Reign 3-1 on Wednesday and 5-3 on Friday – and kept it within striking distance of Utah for the final playoff spot in the Pacific Division.
The Aces (30-24-7) trail the Grizzlies, 5-1 winners over visiting Bakersfield on Saturday, by five points and have two games in hand on them. Alaska is three games into a 10-game, three-week road trip that wraps up with two games in Utah.
Connolly teed up a one-timer for Wolfe late in the first period, when the rookie opened the scoring before an announced crowd of 9,395 at Citizens Business Bank Arena in California. The Aces didn't register a shot on goal until the teams had played 15 minutes, 59 seconds – that one was a Justin Breton bid gloved by Jussi Olkinuora – and Wolfe's shot was their only other one of the period.
The two shots tied for the fewest the Aces have generated in a period this season. By game's end, though, they caught the Reign – shots finished 26 apiece on an evening when post-whistle scrums were more the norm than exception.
"It was a playoff game by both teams,'' Murray said. "It was a hard-fought game.''
Ontario (36-18-9), which had its five-game winning streak snuffed, forged a 1-1 tie on Maxim Kitsyn's strike deep into the second period. That marked the fourth goal in the last three games for Kitsyn, who furnished a Gordie Howe hat trick – goal, assist, fight – in each of the first two games of the series.
But with less than seven minutes left in the match, Connolly generated the go-ahead and game-winning goal off helpers from rookie defenseman Evan Renwick and rookie linemate Dean Chelios. Chelios, deep in Ontario territory, fed the puck to Renwick near the blue line and Renwick's shot deflected in off Connolly's foot, confirmation that good things happen when a player goes to the net.
Chelios has contributed at least one point in all four games since being acquired from the Indy Fuel and owns 1-4—5 totals with the Aces.
Murray, who juggled his top two lines in the third period of Friday's loss, kept the reconstituted lines Saturday. That meant Wolfe, a center, had Connolly on his left side and Chelios, his former junior hockey and college teammate, on his right side.
Ryan Walters' 15th goal, into an empty net off a Corey Syvret assist, sealed Alaska's win with 10 seconds to go.
Meanwhile, Aces goaltender Troy Redmann continued to shine before family and friends – he makes his home in nearby Brea. He stopped 25 shots. The last time he played at Ontario, he delivered a 28-save gem in a 3-0 shutout. Since the Aces claimed Redmann off waivers from Colorado, he has gone 8-1-3 with a 2.45 goals-against average and .926 save percentage.
The Aces remain in California for four more games – Tuesday night at Bakersfield and then a three-game series at Stockton starting Friday – before completing their trip with one game in Idaho and two in Utah.
Shuffling the deck
One night after converting on both their power plays and emerging from a 10-game power outage in which they scored just once on 40 power-play chances, the Aces went 0 for 5 with the man advantage.
The Aces killed both Reign power plays and have killed 26 of 28 opposing power plays in the last seven games.
Reach Doyle Woody at dwoody@alaskadispatch.com, check out his blog at adn.com/hockey-blog and follow him on Twitter at @JaromirBlagr
Alaska 1 0 2 - 3
Ontario 0 1 0 - 1
1st Period-1, Alaska, Wolfe 18 (Connolly), 17:39. Penalties-Nunn Ont (high-sticking), 4:45; Baldwin Ak (roughing), 20:00; Chelios Ak (roughing), 20:00; Register Ont (double - roughing), 20:00; Roach Ont (roughing), 20:00.
2nd Period-2, Ontario, Kitsyn 22 13:24. Penalties-Julseth-White Ont (high-sticking), 1:18; Renwick Ak (tripping), 4:29; Bell Ont (roughing), 9:29; Brittain Ont (unsportsmanlike conduct), 15:40.
3rd Period-3, Alaska, Connolly 26 (Renwick, Chelios), 13:40. 4, Alaska, Walters 15 (Syvret), 19:50 (EN). Penalties-Wolfe Ak (holding), 2:00.
Shots on Goal-Alaska 2-12-12-26. Ontario 9-9-8-26.
Power Play Opportunities-Alaska 0 / 5; Ontario 0 / 2.
Goalies-Alaska, Redmann 10-1-0-3 (26 shots-25 saves). Ontario, Olkinuora 20-9-3-2 (25 shots-23 saves).
A-9,395
Referees-JM McNulty (21).
Linesmen-Michel Voyer (87), Brent Tubbs (42).