Not that it was a glaring problem or happened frequently enough to trigger an alarm, but the Alaska Aces in the regular season occasionally lapsed into laziness shortly after they scored a goal.

Granted, the postseason is just two games old for the National Conference champion, yet no such shortcoming has afflicted the hockey club in its Kelly Cup-opening series with the Utah Grizzlies.

The Aces, buoyed by reigning ECHL Goaltender of the Year Jean-Philippe Lamoureux, have yet to yield a goal and own a 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 series entering tonight's Game 3 in Utah.

In both their 2-0 victories at Sullivan Arena last weekend, the Aces earned their two-goal advantage early in the third period and then focused more on holding that lead than expanding it.

"As soon as the third period comes, all our minds go into shutdown mode,'' said Aces defenseman Nick Tuzzolino. "If you have to ice the puck, ice the puck. If you have to chip it off the glass to get it out, chip it. If there's no play (on offense), get the puck in deep.

"Just lulling them to sleep.''

Though coach Keith McCambridge believes surrendering a goal shortly after scoring one was a bigger problem last season, "it has a tendency to creep into our game.''

During the regular season, opponents on 28 occasions countered with a goal within five minutes of an Aces goal. And 19 of those strikes came three minutes or less after an Aces celebration. In the postseason, the club is concentrating on not allowing its opponent to seize the momentum with a quick response.

"We've been patient about it,'' McCambridge said. "What we do is simplify our game. We're not looking for home-run plays. If they're there, we'll take them, but otherwise we'll chip pucks out and get the puck in deep.

The Aces have a phrase for locking down on defense when in possession of a third-period lead: Play the score.

"They realize, 'We've got what we need, so let's play smart,' '' McCambridge said. "We're still looking for chances to score, but we're not taking risks to score.''

Obviously, the Aces know that Lamoureux eventually will give up a goal.

"All super heroes get hit at least once,'' Tuzzolino said.

And the Aces also understand they'll be playing from behind sometimes in this postseason, even if they haven't yet.

When that happens, they can at least take comfort in knowing that they countered just as quickly as their opponents during the regular season. On 32 occasions, they scored with five minutes of an opponents' goal, and 18 times they struck within three minutes.

Shuffling the deck

The Aces' average attendance for the two home playoff games last weekend at Sullivan Arena -- 4,871 a night -- gives them the highest average of any ECHL playoff team. That's slightly higher -- 189 more a night -- than Alaska's regular-season average attendance of 4,682.

Utah must win two of the three games in West Valley City to force the series back to Anchorage. Game 4 is Friday and Game 5, if necessary, is Saturday. Game 6 would be Tuesday at Sullivan with Game 7, if necessary, Wednesday, April 18 at Sullivan.

If the Aces wrap the series in Utah, the second round of the playoffs is not scheduled to begin until at least Friday, April 24 at the earliest.

Find Doyle Woody's blog online at adn.com/hockeyblog or call him at 257-4335.

Playoff shutout record

With Alaska Aces goaltender Jean-Philippe Lamoureux bagging two shutouts of Utah in the club's first two ECHL playoff games this season -- and that's after crafting a league-record eight bagels in the regular season -- you might wonder what record he can pocket next.

Well, the ECHL record for most playoff shutouts in a single season is five by Richmond's Maxime Gringas in 1999. Goalies nine times have recorded three shutouts in a single postseason, the most recent coming from Las Vegas' Kevin Lalande last season. Chris Beckford-Tseu of the Aces furnished three shutouts in the club's run to the Kelly Cup in 2006.

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