Tim Coffman is a pretty low-key cat. Relaxed in conversation, he favors sly, dead-pan humor, and he doesn't take himself too seriously. He's a Pennsylvania boy, but if you didn't know that, you might suspect some California in his background.
Yet, to hear Alaska Aces coach Rob Murray tell it, Coffman spent some of his time between third-period shifts in Utah on Friday night demanding his teammates get him the puck.
"He was looking up and down the bench and saying, 'Get me the puck, get me the puck,' '' Murray said by cellphone. "He was willing the shoulder the burden of trying to win that game. It was great, and the guys responded to that.''
And when Coffman had the biscuit, he buoyed his boys — he scored the game-tying goal and started the play that led to defenseman Ryan Trenz's overtime strike in Alaska's pivotal 3-2 comeback win over the Utah Grizzlies.
The victory, coupled with Missouri's loss to Allen, increased the Aces' (28-19-8) lead over Utah and Missouri to five points in the drive for the final playoff spot in the ECHL's Mountain Division.
"Every win right now is a big win,'' Coffman said. "And especially when you get the win against a team that's chasing you, it's huge.''
Coffman said he was so vocal, in part, because he was having one of those nights hockey players cherish — he had what hockey players sometimes call "jump'' in his legs.
"I want to make playoffs and I've got to do my job, and I was in kind of a zone,'' Coffman said. "I felt like I had good legs, so I told them, 'Get me the puck.' ''
The Aces, who squandered a two-goal, second-period lead and lost at Utah 5-3 on Wednesday, trailed 2-1 midway through the third period Friday at the Maverik Center. Tim Wallace's goal for Alaska early in the second period had been trumped by two Utah goals in a span of 89 seconds later in the period. Jon Puskar scored on a penalty shot and Austen Brassard solved Kevin Carr (29 saves), who was otherwise lights-out in the Aces net.
Coffman said he recognized as he was heading up the ice that he was going against former Aces forward Erik Higby, who is playing defense for the short-handed Grizzlies. Murray said Higby has played very well on the blue line — "I give him credit.'' Still, Coffman said he yelled at his teammate, defenseman Nolan Descoteaux (two assists) to pass him the puck.
Coffman got a step on Higby with the puck on his backhand on left wing, cut to the net and slipped a shot between the pads of Ryan Faragher (27 saves) to furnish a 2-2 tie.
In overtime, Coffman had a breakaway but was denied by Faragher. He soon took a defensive-zone face-off and didn't win or lose it cleanly, but won a battle for the puck and got it to Descoteaux on the attack. Descoteaux had come onto the ice after the face-off to replace defenseman Mitch Jones, even though Murray had wanted Wallace to replace Jones in the event the Aces captured the puck.
In any event, Descoteaux and Trenz, two defensemen, blew into Utah's zone 2-on-1. Faragher stopped Descoteaux's shot, but Trenz punched home the rebound at 2:08 of extra time.
With high-scoring winger Peter Sivak missing his 13th straight game with a lower-body injury, the onus has been on others to make up for the scoring the miss from Sivak, who racked 32 goals in 42 games.
Coffman has delivered. He owns a career-best, eight-game point streak, with 7-6—13 totals in that span. And with 15 points in the last 13 games, that average of 1.15 points per game is up from his average of .81 points per game before Sivak's injury.
Wallace and Danny Moynihan likewise have elevated their production. Wallace owns 13 points in the 13 games Sivak has missed, generating 1.00 points per game after previously averaging .69. And Moynihan's 12 points in the last 13 games give him an average of .92 in that span, up from his previous .71.
Shuffling the deck
Sivak only Friday lost the league lead in goals. Brampton's David Pacan racked his 33rd goal in his 51st game to assume the lead.
Sivak, with those 32 goals in 42 games, still is tied for second in the league with Colorado rookie Matt Garbowsky, who has 32 in 58 games.
Colorado on Friday beat South Carolina 5-4 to extend its franchise-record winning streak to 17 games, tied with the Cincinnati Cyclones (2008) for the second-longest streak in ECHL history. South Carolina won a record 23 straight in 2015.
Carr, a third-year pro, gave up a penalty-shot goal for the first time in his career. He stopped one earlier this season, and one each in his two seasons with Tulsa.
The Aces are now 5-17-3 when trailing after two periods. Only three other ECHL teams — Colorado, Idaho and Missouri, who all play in the Mountain Division with the Aces, have won more games when trailing after 40 minutes. Those three teams have six wins in those circumstances. Allen, Fort Wayne, Quad City and Toledo match Alaska's five wins when trailing after two.
Not surprisingly, all 10 of those teams with five or more wins when trailing after 40 minutes own winning records.
After surrendering three power-play goals to Utah in the Grizzlies' four chances Wednesday in Utah's 5-3 win, the Aces killed all five Utah man advantages Friday.
Aces captain Garet Hunt missed his fourth straight game since undergoing an appendectomy and helped Murray behind the bench.
Moynihan's four-game point streak (4-4—8) was snapped.
Aces 0 1 1 1 — 3
Utah 0 2 0 0 — 2
First Period — None. Penalties — Nemcik, Utah (roughing), :51; Lake, Aces, double-minor (roughing, unsportsmanlike conduct), :51; Pietroniro, Utah (hooking), 13:02; Trenz, Aces (delay of game), 18:14; Utah bench minor, served by Martin (too many men), 19:49; Descoteaux, Aces (tripping), 19:58.
Second Period — 1, Aces, Wallace 17 (Trenz, Jones), 1:37; 2, Utah, Puskar 18 (penalty shot), 14:41; 3, Utah, Brassard 4 (Reid, Cuddemi), 16:10. Penalties — Moynihan, Aces (tripping), 10:22; Bradford, Utah, major (fighting), 16:00; Shattock, Aces, major (fighting), 16:00; Nemcik, Utah (slashing), 17:24; Levesque, Utah (slashing), 19:48.
Third Period — 4, Aces, Coffman 23 (Descoteaux, Shattock), 9:15. Penalties — Shattock, Aces (high-sticking), 14:19.
Overtime — 5, Aces, Trenz 4 (Descoteaux, Coffman), 2:08. Penalties — None.
Shots on goal — Aces 6-10-10-4—30. Utah 12-7-11-1—31.
Power-play Opportunities — Aces 0 of 3. Utah 0 of 5.
Goalies — Aces, Carr, 14-13-3 (31 shots-29 saves). Utah, Faragher, 13-12-4 (30-27).
A — Not reported (10,200). T — 2:27.
Referee — Chris Pontes. Linesmen — Andrew Collins, Kollin Kleinendorst.