Alaska Aces Hockey

Aces cough up 2nd-period lead, fall 4-3 to streaking Eagles

The Alaska Aces coughed up a second-period lead Friday night, when they fell 4-3 to the sizzling Colorado Eagles in the opener of a three-game series at Sullivan Arena.

Colorado has reeled off 10 consecutive victories, the longest current streak on the 27-team ECHL circuit.

Alaska, meanwhile, is winless in its last three hockey games (0-2-1).

The game was played on the day the Aces said they have not decided whether they will play beyond this season after KTVA Channel 11 first reported the club was considering halting operations.

After Alaska used first-period goals by center Stephen Perfetto and defenseman Marc-Andre Levesque — those goals countered the opening strike by Colorado's Kenny Brooks — the Eagles used goals three minutes apart by Matt Garbowsky and Luke Salazar to seize a 3-2 lead late in the second period.

Michael Sdao's empty-net goal in the late stages furnished Colorado a 4-2 lead that the Aces trimmed on Mackenze Stewart's extra-attacker goal with 5.3 seconds left.

Michael Garteig made 27 saves for the Aces and Clarke Saunders stopped 28 shots for the Eagles.

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The Aces remain fourth in the Mountain Division, where the top four teams qualify for the Kelly Cup playoffs. The Eagles sit second, two points behind division-leading Allen, the two-time defending Kelly Cup champion, and have three games in hand on the Americans.

The Eagles-Aces series continues Saturday night and wraps Sunday afternoon.

Doyle Woody

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

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