Stephen Perfetto racked up his second two-goal performance in three games to lift the Aces to a 3-1 victory Friday over the Utah Grizzlies in an ECHL showdown in West Valley City, Utah.
Perfetto's first strike put the Aces (21-11-5) up 1-0 five minutes into the first period. The Grizzlies (16-19-4) evened the score six minutes later on a Michael Pelech goal.
Perfetto broke the tie with his second goal –his 21st of the season — in the closing seconds of the second period. Tim Wallace made it a two-goal lead for Alaska with a third-period strike.
Aces goalie Kevin Carr finished with 32 saves. Grizzlies goaltender Ryan Faragher had 28.
The win came in the Aces' first game since allowing a season-worst nine goals in a defensive meltdown last Saturday against the Orlando Solar Bears.
It was their first game with forward Tyler Shattock. He played on the top line with Perfetto and Peter Sivak, tallying one shot, two penalty minutes and a plus-2 rating.
The Aces traded Justin Breton — their leading goal-scorer last season — to the Kalamazoo Wings for Shattock earlier this week.
The Aces and Grizzlies conclude their two-game series at 5 p.m. Saturday in Utah.