Alaska Aces Hockey

The grind was gruesome for the Aces on Wednesday: Orlando 6, Alaska 2

The goaltending and team defense that sustained the Alaska Aces through much of the first half of the ECHL hockey season have gone missing.

Not post-them-on-a-milk-carton missing, but worrisome nonetheless, and the principal reasons the Aces choked down a 6-2 loss to the Orlando Solar Bears on Wednesday night.

The Aces have surrendered at least four goals in each of the last five games and have fallen behind 2-0 in the first period in three of their last four games.

Only four times in their first 33 games did they surrender as many as three goals in one period. They did that in both the first and second periods Wednesday at Sullivan Arena.

And starting goaltender Michael Garteig was pulled midway through Wednesday's game, in favor of Kevin Carr, after allowing five goals on 18 shots. That was the first time this season Aces coach Rob Murray has given an Aces masked man the hook.

The six goals Alaska allowed matched its season-high.

The Aces (19-10-5) still sport a strong record, but they are 5-5-0 in their last 10 games. Granted, seven of those matches were against teams well above .500 — Colorado, Idaho and Orlando — but Alaska is arguably mired in its first real funk of the season.

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That happens in the ECHL's grind of a 72-game regular season — nearly every team savors successful stretches and endures agonizing ones.

The Solar Bears (19-12-6) know. They entered the evening 2-5-4 in their previous 11 games after going 11-2-1 in the 14 games prior to that. Wednesday, they played without coach Drake Berehowsky — he served a league-imposed, one-game suspension for a meltdown in Colorado last week — and two of their top six scorers. Former Aces winger Brett Findlay, who helped Alaska win the franchise's third Kelly Cup in 2014, and Tony Cameranesi are both up in the American Hockey League with the Toronto Marlies.

The Aces unleashed 51 shots on Solar Bears goalie Kasimir Kaskisuo, and while he spit out some juicy rebounds, he also delivered some show-stopping saves and stopped each of the Aces' 42 shots in the last 40 minutes. The Aces fired 27 shots on Kaskisuo in the second period — that matched the most any ECHL team has generated in a period this season — to no avail.

Orlando jumped to a 2-0 lead inside the opening 11 minutes on goals from Alex Gacek and former Aces skater Joe Perry, with the latter's back-door, tap-in goal coming on the power play off a strong feed from Eric Faille. Inside the next five minutes, though, the Aces forged a 2-2 tie on goals from Danny Moynihan and Stephen Perfetto.

But Gacek struck again on the power play with 14.6 left in the period to restore the Solar Bears' lead at 3-2.

Faille's one-timer from the slot four minutes into the second period furnished Orlando a 4-2 cushion and Ben Danford's redirect at the net about nine minutes into the period chased Garteig. Chris Crane added a goal on Carr later in the period and the teams skated through a goal-free, penalty-free third period.

The Aces have gone 0-2-1 in the opening game of their last three home series.

Yet there's an upside to that 72-game grind — redemption is always right around the corner. The Aces and Solar Bears play again Friday night and close the series Saturday night.

Shuffling the deck

Perfetto's goal and assist gives him 14 multiple-point games in his 28 games played.

Moynihan also furnished one goal and one assist.

Orlando's two power-play goals marked the third time the Aces have surrendered multiple power-play goals in a game. They entered the night ranked No. 2 in the league in penalty-killing with 88.7-percent efficiency.

Orlando's top line flourished. Denver Manderson furnished three assists, and Perry and Faille each had one goal and one assist.

Orlando 3  3  0  — 6

Aces 2  0  0  — 2

First Period — 1, Orlando, Gacek 12 (Bradley, Angeli), 5:49; 2, Orlando, Perry 19 (Faille, Manderson), 10:38 (pp); 3, Aces, Moynihan 11 (Tarasuk, Perfetto), 12:08; 4, Aces, Perfetto 17 (Moynihan), 14:46; 5, Orlando, Gacek 13 (Manderson), 19:45 (pp). Penalties — Hunt, Aces (interference), 3:16; Lauwers, Aces (cross-checking), 9:37; Hunt, Aces (kneeing), 17:48.

Second Period — 6, Orlando, Faille 15 (Manderson, Perry), 4:01; 7, Orlando, Danford 3 (Witala, Carrier), 8:50; 8, Orlando, Crane 9 (Gacek, Brouillard), 13:25. Penalties — Orlando bench minor, served by Marchment (too many men), 5:24; Brouillard, Orlando (holding), 9:28.

Third Period — None. Penalties — None.

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Shots on goal — Orlando 13-10-9—32. Aces 9-27-15—51.

Power-play Opportunities — Orlando 2 of 3. Aces 0 of 2.

Goalies — Orlando, Kaskisuo, 8-6-4 (51 shots-49 saves). Aces, Garteig, 8-3-0 (18-13); Carr, enter 8:50 2nd period (14-13).

A — 2,498 (6,399). T — 2:27.

Referee — Mike Sheehan. Linesmen — Scott Sivulich, Josh Ellis.

Doyle Woody

Doyle Woody covered hockey and other sports for the Anchorage Daily News for 34 years.

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