Alaska Aces owners opened Thursday by announcing the franchise's demise at hockey season's end and the club's players closed it by staging a road resurrection four time zones away to snuff their recent funk.
Granted, the Elmira Jackals have a stranglehold on the worst record in the 27-team ECHL, but a win is a win to the Aces, who arrived in New York lugging a five-game winless streak and having traveled for nearly 24 hours Wednesday.
Danny Moynihan scored a goal and two assists, and Yan-Pavel Laplante continued to elevate his play with one goal and one helper to support Michael Garteig's 30 saves in a 4-3 victory at First Arena.
[Aces fans react to news of the club's coming demise]
Alaska's victory opened its three-week, 10-game road journey to New York, New Hampshire, Utah, Colorado, South Dakota and back to Colorado.
The Aces (26-18-7) halted a 0-4-1 slide.
The Jackals (9-36-7) stretched their winless plunge to 16 games (0-14-2), the longest such streak in the league this season – they haven't won since Jan. 20.
With ECHL-leading goal scorer Peter Sivak still out with a lower-body injury and his linemate, center and team-leading scorer Stephen Perfetto shelved by an upper-body injury, the Aces were missing two players who had accounted for 36 percent of the team's goals. And that's with Sivak (32 goals) already having missed eight games and Perfetto (25 goals) having missed six games earlier this season while on promotion to the American Hockey League.
The absence of those two game-breaking forwards leaves the Aces badly in need of other players to raise their production.
Laplante, a winger, has blossomed of late. His short-handed, breakaway backhander in the second period Thursday – he chased down Moynihan's aerial pass in space – gives him goals in three straight games and four goals in the last six games.
Center Tim Coffman and wingers Moynihan and Tim Wallace are Alaska's three highest-scoring players available. They all contributed Thursday. Moynihan opened the scoring in the first period off a Laplante feed and also assisted on defenseman Steven Tarasuk's third-period, power-play goal, which became the game-winning strike. And Coffman earned an assist on Wallace's power-play rebound goal early in the second period.
"In order for us to maintain being successful, those guys need to pick up the slack, and tonight they did," Aces coach Rob Murray said by cellphone.
The Aces never trailed and twice seized two-goal, second-period leads – 2-0 and 3-2. They also scored the game's first goal for the first time in six games.
And in going 2 for 8 on the power play – Elmira likewise went 2 for 8, with a goal from former Aces blueliner Davis Vandane coming on a two-man advantage – the Aces scored more than one power-play goal in a game for the first time in 21 games.
The Aces, who sit fourth in the Mountain Division, where the top four teams make the playoffs, increased their lead over fifth-place Utah to three points. They have three games in hand on the Grizzlies.
Given the Aces' grueling travel day Wednesday, which began with a red-eye flight to Seattle and continued with a flight to Newark, New Jersey, and a four-hour bus ride to Elmira, two points proved a strong reward.
"Especially when you take all that (travel) into consideration," Murray said. "We could have just slunk into the game. But we came out with good energy."
Shuffling the deck
Aces rookie defenseman Mackenze Stewart received a major penalty and game misconduct for kneeing Ian Young midway through the game.
A game misconduct is an automatic $40 fine under ECHL rules. Also, the game misconduct was Stewart's second of the season. A third game misconduct in the regular season warrants an automatic one-game suspension.
Aces captain Garet Hunt took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in the second period, which gives him at least one penalty in 16 straight games. Hunt's minor penalty vaulted him into the league lead in penalty minutes with 219 in 51 games. Allen's Derek Mathers has 217 penalty minutes in 48 games. You will be shocked to be reminded that Mathers and Hunt fought each other in one of the two Alaska-Allen games this season.
Laplante's short-handed goal was his second in the last three games. Moynihan and Perfetto lead the Aces with three shorties each, one shy of Vincent Arseneau's league-leading four shorties for Wichita.
Perfetto is traveling with the team, an indication he should be back in the lineup during the extended road trip. Sivak did not travel with the club.
Aces 1 2 1 4
Elmira 0 2 1 3
First Period – 1, Aces, Moynihan 15 (Laplante, Trenz), 10:27. Penalties – Sandler, Elmira (holding), 6:17; Trenz, Aces (hooking), 13:35; Lane, Elmira (high-sticking), 14:32.
Second Period – 2, Aces, Wallace 15 (Coffman, Descoteaux), 2:39 (pp); 3, Elmira, Kea 6 (Miller, Mosey), 5:54; 4, Aces, Laplante 5 (Moynihan), 10:30 (sh); 5, Elmira, Vandane 5 (Lane), 11:33 (pp). Penalties – Kea, Elmira (slashing), 2:00; Hunt, Aces (unsportsmanlike conduct), 2:40; Shattock, Aces (tripping), 10:30; Stewart, Aces, major-game misconduct, served by Coffman (kneeing), 10:52; LeBoeuf, Elmira (hooking), 16:06.
Third Period – 6, Aces, Tarasuk 6 (Moynihan), 12:30 (pp); 7, Elmira, Miller 17 (Sylvestre, Kasdorf), 16:41 (pp). Penalties – Sandler, Elmira, double-minor (roughing), 3:21; Jones, Aces, double-minor (roughing), 3:21; Kea, Elmira (tripping), 9:32; Descoteaux, Aces (tripping), 10:19; Young, Elmira (hooking), 11:04; Martin, Elmira (slashing), 13:45; Aces bench minor, served by Coffman (too many men), 14:36; Jones, Aces (tripping), 16:00.
Shots on goal – Aces 12-14-8—34. Elmira 7-15-11—33.
Power-play Opportunities – Aces 2 of 8. Elmira 2 of 8.
Goalies – Aces, Garteig, 11-6-2 (33 shots-30 saves). Elmira, Kasdorf, 2-14-1 (34-30).
A – 1,700 (3,784). T – 2:18.
Referee – Tyler Puddifant. Linesmen – Michael Fusani, Daniel Iulianello.