Anchorage Daily News

Just more than five minutes into their 2-1 victory over Victoria on Monday night, the Alaska Aces already trailed by a goal and faced a Salmon Kings power play.

As starts go, this obviously wasn't as bad as shooting the puck into your own net, but it certainly wasn't good.

But like last season, when the Aces' penalty-killing crew set an ECHL record for stinginess, the guys on the short-handed unit helped turn the game back their hockey club's way.

Defenseman Derick Martin forced a miscue behind the Aces net, which allowed partner Ryan Turek to clear the puck the length of the ice. Next, Turek got his stick into a passing lane and deflected a diagonal pass out of the zone.

Then captain Scott Burt blocked a shot, blocked a pass and blocked another shot. Mix in three saves from goaltender Scott Reid, and the Salmon Kings endured a fruitless two minutes with the man advantage.

That was a snapshot of the three-game series the Aces swept to open the season. The Aces, who open a three-game set tonight in Las Vegas, not only killed all 16 Victoria power plays in the series, but also bagged two short-handed goals, courtesy of rookie center Chris Morehouse and sniping center John Lammers.

Martin and Turek return as the Aces' shutdown pairing, and they are usually the first pairing on the ice when the Aces kill penalties. Martin, as always, routinely stays out for much of the penalty kill. Defenseman Tyson Marsh plays big minutes on the unit too.

Up front, though, the Aces in the offseason lost two of their principal penalty-killing forwards in center Vladimir Novak (retired) and winger Cam Keith (playing in Europe). Burt, the veteran winger, returned to the penalty-killing crew, and Lammers and winger Colin Hemingway bring experience, while Morehouse and rookie forward Patrick Brosnihan have logged regular minutes. Winger Matt Stefanishion has also spotted in on the crew.

"A lot of us penalty killers, we're not on the power play, so PK is what we take pride in,'' Burt said. "The young guys are here to learn and they're not afraid to ask questions.

"They go out, work hard and block shots. They'll sacrifice for the team, and for that guy in the penalty box.''

The Aces last regular season killed a league-record 89.3-percent of opposing power plays. The 40 power- play goals they surrendered in 72 games were 11 fewer than any other team in the league.

Alaska raised that penalty-killing efficiency to 90.2 percent in the playoffs, extending the South Carolina Stingrays to Game 7 of the Kelly Cup Finals before losing.

Shuffling the deck

The Aces will be without veteran winger Lance Galbraith for all three games of the Las Vegas series, and without Morehouse for tonight's opener, after the league issued suspensions in the aftermath of Monday night's near bench-clearing brawl with the Salmon Kings.

Galbraith received a three-game suspension and undisclosed fine for instigating a second fight -- he and Victoria's Chad Painchaud (two-game suspension) fought after Burt and former Aces center Olivier Filion were already involved in a throw-down. Morehouse received a one-game suspension.

Aces spokesman Jack Michaels said league officials told the team Morehouse instigated the whole affair. Curiously, though, Morehouse was not penalized by referee Jarrod Ragusin for the dust-up.

In any event, Galbraith did not travel with the team to Las Vegas on Wednesday. He likely will be replaced in the lineup by winger Brett Hemingway -- Hemingway was activated off the injured reserve list Tuesday. Spare defensemen Lee Green and B.J. Crum did make the trip. Green, who was eligible to come off the IR Wednesday, will likely dress tonight to give the Aces a full complement of three skaters. Crum was placed on the three-day IR Tuesday, which means he is ineligible to play tonight.

Morehouse, also fined an undisclosed amount, is eligible to return for Friday's game.

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

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