FRUSTRATED IN FLORIDA: Fourth straight defeat comes despite team "playing well."
Presumably, the Alaska Aces' current four-game swoon, which reached its nadir with Friday night's 3-1 road loss to the Florida Everblades, would be easier for them to accept if the effort was indifferent.
And certainly they could better digest this skid if they were simply playing poorly -- say, making a series of bone-headed plays.
But it's not like they're barely breaking a sweat, or shooting the puck into their own net. They're not bringing stink to the rink.
They're simply losing hockey games in which, all things considered -- namely injuries, the longest road trip in the history of North American pro sports (4,926 miles) and an exceedingly tough opponent -- they have generally played well.
Friday's loss was Exhibit A. The Aces rocketed 44 shots on Florida goaltender Justin Peters. They delivered an honest effort for 60 minutes. Even when trailing 3-1 entering the third period, they gave themselves ample opportunity for a comeback, firing 18 shots in the final 20 minutes.
And all the Aces (10-7-1) had to show for it was a fourth straight loss, which matches their worst slide since entering the ECHL in the 2003-04 season.
"It's not like last year, when we lost three in a row and we were struggling, and it was demoralizing,'' said Aces center Kimbi Daniels by cell phone from Estero, Fla. "Here, we're at least playing well. We're not struggling. We're just not winning.''
Much like Wednesday's 3-1 loss to the Everblades (12-6-0), the Aces' setback could best be explained by rounding up the same suspects:
• Peters' exceptional work;
• The Everblades' superiority on special teams;
• The Aces' propensity for surrendering the first goal of the game, and;
• The continuing hot streak of Florida sniper Mathieu Melanson.
Time and again, Peters rebuffed the Aces when they enjoyed quality scoring chances. Aces coach Keith McCambridge said he would like to see more traffic in front of Peters so that he doesn't get a clear view of shots -- that's known as taking away the goalie's eyes.
Still, McCambridge lauded Peters, a second-round draft pick of the Carolina Hurricanes who has stopped 77 of the Aces' 79 shots the last two games.
"He's finding all the pucks and he's square to the shooter,'' McCambridge said. "He's strong post-to-post and he looks confident.''
The Aces couldn't solve Peters on the power play, going 0 for 5 and failing to convert with a 5-on-3 advantage that lasted 59 seconds early in the third period at Germain Arena.
Florida leads the league in penalty killing (90.5-percent efficiency) and has allowed opponents just one power-play goal in 52 chances on its home ice. Alaska, meanwhile, is scoreless on its last 20 power plays and is proving the old maxim that power plays are streaky.
Before this recent outage, the Aces' power play converted 12 of 28 power-play chances.
"That can be a difference-maker,'' Daniels said. "A power play can't stay hot all year. It goes in spells, and it's our turn to be in a funk.''
Florida seized the lead just 12 seconds into the game when Ernie Hartlieb banged a Brett Peterson rebound past Aces goalie Derek Gustafson (20 saves). The Aces countered with Oliver Filion's goal late in the period for a 1-1 tie.
The Everblades' edge in special teams proved the difference in the second period. Melanson scored just four seconds after a power play expired -- Aces defenseman Peter Metcalf, who served a two-minute sentence for interference, was just hustling into the Aces zone when Melanson struck for a 2-1 lead. The goal extended his points streak to 11 games, the longest in the league this season.
Eleven minutes later, just as a Florida power play began following a sequence of 4-on-4 play, defenseman Franklin MacDonald gave the Everblades a 3-1 cushion. Unchecked in the high slot -- no Ace was within a stick length -- MacDonald whistled a slapper over Gustafson's shoulder.
The Aces, meanwhile, couldn't do the same to the 6-foot-1 Peters. He favors the butterfly style. The generally accepted way to beat butterfly goalies, who drop to the ice and splay their legs to cover the lower part of the net, is to shoot high.
"We keep telling ourselves, 'Get it upstairs on this guy,' " said Aces winger Matt Robinson, who like Daniels and Metcalf fired four shots on goal. "We're getting all the chances we need.''
And that, Robinson said, makes this losing streak so aggravating.
"Obviously, you just want to snap,'' he said. "A lot of guys are frustrated, but even though it is tough, you've just got to keep working and get a couple greasy (goals).''
McCambridge said he takes his team's frustration as a good sign.
"You can sense their frustration, that's for sure,'' he said. "But that means they care. I'll take that frustration and turn that into positive energy and make it work for us, not against us.''
If nothing else, the Aces find it ironic that they are clocking in with solid efforts for full games and losing. Earlier in the season, they won several games despite inconsistent efforts.
"Maybe we should go back to playing 20 or 30 minutes a night,'' Daniels joked. "That worked out pretty well for us.''
Shuffling the deck
The last time the Aces lost five or more straight games was in the 2002-03 season, their last in the now-defunct West Coast Hockey League and so long ago they were called the Anchorage Aces. The Aces lost seven straight from Feb. 5-16, 2003.
The penalty-free first period was the first such clean period of regulation play in the Aces' 18 games this season.
To gauge how rare that is, consider that in 87 Aces games last season -- 72 regular-season games and 15 playoff games, for a total of 261 periods of regulation play -- the Aces and their opponents played just one penalty-free period in regulation.
Alaska's 44 shots were just one shy of the season-high 45 they launched in a 5-1 win at Fresno on Oct. 26.
Find Doyle Woody's blog online at adn.com/hockeyblog or call him at 257-4335.
Aces 1 0 0 -- 1
Florida 1 2 0 -- 3
First Period -- 1, Florida, Hartlieb 8 (Peterson), :12; 2, Aces, Filion 4 (Heisten), 16:03. Penalties -- None.
Second Period -- 3, Florida, Melanson 12 (Zancanaro, Hartlieb), 6:21; 4, Florida, MacDonald 2 (Zancanaro), 17:22 (pp). Penalties -- Metcalf, Aces (interference), 4:17; Peterson, Florida (holding), 13:25; Ward, Florida (holding), 15:17; Cornacchia, Florida, major (fighting), 16:17; Soares, Aces, major (fighting), 16:17; Heisten, Aces (unsportsmanlike conduct), 16:17; McLean, Florida (tripping), 18:31; Filion, Aces (tripping), 19:33.
Third Period -- None. Penalties -- Caponigri, Florida (hooking), 1:53; Peterson, Florida (hooking), 2:55; Soares, Aces (hooking), 7:51; Cornacchia, Florida (cross-checking), 18:43; Filion, Aces (charging), 18:43.
Shots on goal -- Aces 12-14-18--44. Florida 8-13-2--23.
Power-play Opportunities -- Aces 0 of 5; Florida 1 of 4.
Goalies -- Aces, Gustafson 3-5-1 (23 shots-20 saves). Florida, Peters 8-3-0 (44-43).
A -- 5,728 (7,181). T -- Not reported.
Referee -- Jason Rollins. Linesmen -- Matt Devivi, Jay Jacobs.
