Anchorage Daily News

The game-winning goal John Lammers authored for the Alaska Aces in their 2-1 ECHL win Monday night explained why the majority of his pro career has been spent one level higher in the American Hockey League.

Taking a power-play pass from Colin Hemingway while cutting through the slot in the waning seconds of the second period, Lammers struck in a flash. The left-shooting sniper made a quick stick-handling move, cut around a defender to open ice and whistled a rising dart over the blocker of Victoria Salmon Kings goaltender Glenn Fisher and just under the crossbar.

"That's why he was (once) on an NHL contract,'' said Aces captain Scott Burt. "That's why he was in the AHL all last year. That's why he had a great junior career. That's why he scored (27 goals in 36 games) for Idaho a couple years ago. And that's why we have him here - for a little bit.

"That's John Lammers.''

Burt and the Aces' other veteran winger, Lance Galbraith, played with Lammers in Idaho in 2006-07, when the Steelheads won the Kelly Cup.

And take it from Hemingway, who owns AHL and NHL experience: Lammers' quick release and accuracy are not plentiful commodities in the ECHL.

"He obviously picked that corner,'' Hemingway said. "He has that shot, and not a lot of guys do.''

Lammers' two goals combined with 34 saves from goalie Scott Reid in his Aces debut and perfect penalty killing to give Alaska a sweep of the three-game series at Sullivan Arena and join Idaho and Kalamazoo as the only teams in the 20-team ECHL to start 3-0.

"In all honest, we have a lot of improvement to make,'' Burt said. "But the guys played with heart and played together. And when we were down, we didn't panic. We stuck together.''

They even stuck together after the horn blew to end the second period - that's when the benches cleared for something more than just a glide off the ice and walk to the dressing room.

Victoria's Olivier Filion, the former Aces center, exchanged words with Aces rookie center Chris Morehouse and put his glove to Morehouse's chin. Burt intervened, and soon he and Filion throwing punches for the second time in two seasons. Aces winger Lance Galbraith and Victoria's Chad Painchaud went to the ice grappling. Aces winger Anthony Peluso removed his helmet and gloves and issued invitations to dance.

On-ice officials and the teams managed to extinguish the smoldering fuse on that powder keg before it erupted into a full-on Gong Show headed straight to YouTube.

Burt said he and Filion are just two guys who play with passion and want to win.

"I don't think there's a history, just two guys wanting to play hard,'' Burt said. "I respect him. He's a great player. We've mixed it up a couple of times, and that's where we're at.''

Filion agreed.

"We're just playing hard,'' Filion said. "It happens.''

That mini-melee came after the Aces rallied from one goal down to earn a 2-1 lead on the strength of Lammers' two goals, both set up by Hemingway.

Olivier Latendresse provided Victoria a 1-0 lead early in the first period. Reid stopped Mike Burgoyne's initial shot, but gave up a long rebound that Aces defenseman Bryan Miller tried to clear from the zone. But Miller's clear went directly to Painchaud, who launched a shot that Latendresse cleaned up on the rebound.

Miller made amends more than halfway through the second period, when he broke up a Victoria rush and sprung Lammers and Hemingway for a 2-on-1. Miller said his teammates on the bench, notably a screaming Galbraith, alerted him to pass the puck forward at center, where it turned out Lammers was waiting.

Lammers, on right wing, fed Hemingway at the left post. Hemingway bobbled the pass, then fanned on a shot before making a pass to Lammers at the right post. Lammers swept the puck into a yawning net for a 1-1 tie.

"I thought, ‘Well, if I can't do it, he'll put it in,' ‘' Hemingway said.

The Aces killed three Salmon Kings power plays in the third period - they killed all seven Victoria advantages in the game and all 15 in the series, plus bagged two short-handed goals in the series - and Reid stopped all 15 shots he faced.

The 6-foot-4 Reid, 32, is a relatively stand-up goalie in this age of keepers who favor the butterfly style, and that change-up seemed to flummox the Salmon Kings.

"He's different,'' Filion said. "But he made the saves.''

The Aces now head to Las Vegas, where they open a three-game series against the Wranglers on Thursday night.

"You can't complain about six points,'' Miller said, "but as we talked about, we have a lot of things to work on.''

Shuffling the deck

Lammers has scored the Aces' last three goals. He leads the club in goals (3) and shots on goal (16).

Galbraith started the play on Lammers' game-winning goal with a hit along the boards that freed the puck for Hemingway.

The Aces have started 3-0 for the first time since 1996, when they were the Anchorage Aces and played in the now-defunct West Coast Hockey League.

Victoria has never started the season at home in six ECHL campaigns. And now the Salmon Kings travel all day today before opening a three-game home series against Bakersfield on Wednesday night.

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

Victoria 1 0 0 1

Aces 0 2 0 2

First Period - 1, Victoria, Latendresse 1 (Painchaud, Burgoyne), 3:32. Penalties - Stefanishion, Aces (roughing), 5:32; Taylor, Victoria (tripping), 8:17; Wedderburn, Victoria (tripping), 9:45; Stefanishion, Aces (roughing), 14:34.

Second Period - 2, Aces, Lammers 2 (C. Hemingway, Miller), 13:15; 3, Aces, Lammers 3 (C. Hemingway, Galbraith), 19:54 (pp). Penalties - Taylor, Victoria (holding), 6:00; Latendresse, Victoria (holding), 10:15; Stefanishion, Aces (roughing), 11:19; Gladue, Victoria (slashing), 12:22; Brandt, Victoria (delay of game-puck over glass), 14:30; Tuzzolino, Aces (kneeing), 16:09; Hamilton, Victoria (roughing), 18:04; Burt, Aces, major-misconduct (fighting), 20:00; Filion, Victoria, major (fighting), 20:00; Galbraith, Aces, major-game misconduct (fighting, secondary altercation), 20:00; Painchaud, Victoria, major-game misconduct (fighting, secondary altercation), 20:00; Peluso, Aces (unsportsmanlike conduct), 20:00; Victoria bench minor (delay of game), 20:00.

Third Period -- None. Penalties - Morehouse, Aces (hooking), 6:30; C. Heminway, Aces (slashing), 8:46; Aces bench minor, served by Peluso (too many men), 13:06.

Shots on goal - Victoria 10-10-15--35. Aces 11-8-6--25.

Power-play Opportunities - Victoria 0 of 7; Aces 1 of 7.

Goalies - Victoria, Fisher, 0-1-0 (25 shots-23 saves). Aces, Reid, 1-0-0 (35-34).

A - 3,740 (6,251). T - 2:17.

Referee - Jarrod Ragusin. Linesmen - Will Moran, Chad Colliander.

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