Alaska Aces Hockey

Savoring Sunday: Coffman hat trick spearheads Aces' 7-2 road win

Things could hardly have gone smoother for the Alaska Aces on Sunday afternoon, when they wrapped the three-game Eastern swing of their 10-game road odyssey with a 7-2 dismantling of the Manchester Monarchs in New Hampshire.

Well, there was that postgame moment when team broadcaster Kurt Haider casually dropped on coach Rob Murray that the team's travel itinerary Monday takes it from Boston to Salt Lake City via Seattle.

"Are you sure?'' Murray responded. "Oh, God, Really? Oh, man.''

Hey, no charter flights in the ECHL, just a 72-game grind of commercial airlines and buses.

Otherwise, Sunday proved sweet and savory for the Aces (27-18-8), who earned five of a possible six points out East and maintained a three-point cushion over Missouri for the final playoff spot in the Mountain Division.

No Peter Sivak (32 goals) for the 11th straight game because of a lower-body injury?

No Stephen Perfetto (25 goals), out for the third straight game with an upper-body injury?

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No captain Garet Hunt, out after undergoing an appendectomy Saturday night?

No problem.

Fourth-year center Tim Coffman racked his first career hat trick and tied his career high with four points while running his point streak to six games.

Winger Tim Wallace, the former NHLer from Anchorage, furnished four assists for his biggest production in his first season with his hometown club.

Danny Moynihan bagged two goals in the first period.

Yan-Pavel Laplante delivered his third short-handed goal in the last five games, which was also his fifth goal in the last eight games.

Goaltender Kevin Carr stopped 30 shots to halt his four-game losing streak, which tied as the worst stretch of his career, and also provided the assist on a Coffman breakaway goal.

Defenseman Mackenze Stewart, who fared poorly in a fight recently, dropped Tyler Elbrecht in a bout, and he also scored a goal and went a game-best, plus-4.

Newcomer Brad Navin, in his third game with the club after a recent trade with Utah, chalked up his first points for Alaska with two helpers.

"We played really well,'' Murray said by cellphone. "We caught them on their third game in three (days). That didn't hurt.

"In saying that, you still have to get the job done. You know what we did? We scored when we had chances to score, and Carrsy was good. He made some saves that had them shaking their heads.''

The Aces' five-goal margin of victory tied for their biggest cushion of the campaign. The four-goal, second-period explosion that triggered the blowout also tied for the team's most productive period this season.

And the Aces dominated on special teams, converting both their power-play chances and killing all four Monarchs (30-15-10) man advantages, plus getting that shortie from Laplante.

Monday brings a long travel day, starting with a scheduled 3:30 a.m. bus to Boston, then a cross-country flight to Seattle and a layover before flying to Salt Lake City.

That's not the most direct route, but, hey, more frequent flyer miles.

"There's always a bright side,'' Murray said.

Shuffling the deck

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Coffman's hat trick marked his fifth multiple-goal game of the season and the 11th of his ECHL career. He pushed his point streak to six games, one shy of his career high, and owns 6-4—10 totals in that span.

Coffman's four points gives him 11 multiple-point games this season.

Moynihan's two-goal game was his second of the season.

Defenseman Steven Tarasuk's assist was his career-high 33rd point.

The Aces' power play, which entered the game 24th in the 27-team league at 13.4-percent efficiency, is 5 of 12 (41.7 percent) in the last three games.

Carr's assist on Coffman's breakaway – the goalie threaded a sharp pass up the middle of the ice – was his second helper this season and his fifth in three ECHL seasons.

Coupled with Saturday's 5-4 overtime loss to Manchester and Thursday's 4-3 win at Elmira, the Aces have scored four or more goals in three consecutive games for the first time since mid to late November.

Laplante's third shortie of the season ties him with Moynihan and Perfetto for the team lead and is one shy of the league lead.

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Alaska's four-goal second period was its fifth four-goal period of the season. Not surprisingly, the Aces are 5-0-0 in those games.

Aces 2  4  1   7

Manchester 2  0  0   2

First Period – 1, Aces, Moynihan 16 (Wallace, Coffman), 11:35 (pp); 2, Manchester, Bukarts 14 (Ward, Schemitsch), 13:49; 3, Aces, Moynihan 17 (Navin), 15:41; 4, Manchester, Bukarts 15 (Morris, Agosta), 19:44. Penalties – Navin, Aces (hooking), 3:31; Bukarts, Manchester (tripping), 11:19; Coffman, Aces (roughing), 19:44.

Second Period – 5, Aces, Coffman 20 (Wallace, Tarasuk), 2:59 (pp); 6, Aces, Stewart 4 (Navin), 4:04; 7, Aces, Coffman 21 (Carr), 15:58; 8, Aces, Laplante 6 (Wallace), 17:31 (sh). Penalties – Morris, Manchester (hooking), 1:59; Sampair, Aces (tripping), 6:30; Descoteaux, Aces (slashing), 16:51.

Third Period – 9, Aces, Coffman 22 (Wallace), 6:57. Penalties – Elbrecht, Manchester, major (fighting), :06; Stewart, Aces, major (fighting), :06; Leitner, Manchester, major (fighting), 3:34; Jones, Aces, major (fighting), 3:34.

Shots on goal – Aces 12-13-13—38. Manchester 15-7-10—32.

Power-play Opportunities – Aces 2 of 2. Manchester 0 of 4.

Goalies – Aces, Carr, 13-12-3 (32 shots-30 saves). Manchester, Brittain, 20-8-5 (23-18); Imoo, enter 15:58 2nd period (15-13).

A – 2,975 (9,852). T – 2:22.

Referee – Stephen Thomson. Linesmen – William Kingdom, Stephen Drain.

Doyle Woody

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

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