ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The Alaska Aces have out-scored the Utah Grizzlies 12-4 this series, but Utah has dominated the shots on goal with 107 over Aces 70. The Aces have found a way to put the puck in the net, and how to keep the opponent out.
Goaltending has not been the strong point of the Aces in previous seasons. Coach Rob Murray put a lot of focus on goalie strength this year, and acquired Michael Garteig and Kevin Carr to mind the Aces net.
Garteig and Carr were sharing the duties until Garteig got called up first to the NHL bench of the Vancouver Canucks, and then settled down to some time between the pipes at their AHL farm team, the Utica Comets. Alaska now relies on Carr to make all the stops, and he is showing that he is up to the task.
Sunday afternoon, in the third and final game of this at-home series, the Aces started with an easy tic-tac-goal from Tommy Olczyk at 3:17 and assisted by Descoteaux and Nikiforov. This was followed by a power play goal from Anchorage favorite Peter Sivak at 7:25. Another goal is pounded in by Aces veteran Tim Coffman at 14:59 bringing the score at the end of the first period to 3-0 Alaska advantage.
Utah had the higher shots on goal for the majority of the first with center Jon Puskar racking up five of the 14 Utah attempts in the opening 20 minutes of play. Carr made a few acrobatic glove saves that looked so easy that he could consider baseball as a second career. Carr has had 84 consecutive saves locking down the net for over 138 minutes straight during this weekend’s series.
Kevin Carr’s streak would come to an end 4:25 into the second period when Grizzlies forward Erik Bradford scored unassisted on a breakaway. A couple of fights, a cross checking penalty, and an explosive mid-ice check at the 8:00 mark energized the crowd of 2500 at The Sullivan Arena.
Things continued to be chippy throughout the rest of the second period and escalated when netminder Carr got slammed to the ice behind his net by Grizzly frontman Erik Higby. Higby received a minor for goaltender interference, but not until after Aces defensman Mackenze Stewart roughed him up a bit, who gained a minor for that infraction as well as 10 minutes for game misconduct. The fans all agreed that it was a small price to pay for the deserved retribution.
Several more penalties, including a high-stick and delay of game, meant several more power plays and penalty kills. Both teams practiced their passing drills, but declined to put the puck on the net. Utah was 0/2 with 2 shots on goal, and Alaska was 0/3 with only one attempt during the power plays in the second period as they headed to the locker rooms with a score of 3-1 Aces.
Alaska started the third period with a one-man advantage, carrying just over a minute of a power play from the second. Utah did not mind, however, and Higby scored a short-handed goal at 1:03 into the period. Alaska answered five minutes and ten seconds later with a short-handed reply of their own by Daniel Moynihan.
With the score sitting at 4-2, Utah pulled their goaltender, Faragher, at 17:35. The Grizzlies scored :11 later with the extra attacker. Since that worked so well the first time, Utah tried again emptying their net at 18:35. Peter Sivak finished the Grizzlies off and popped the puck into the empty net at 19:18 bringing the final score to 5-3 Aces.
Although three pucks found themselves behind Carr on Sunday afternoon, his skill between the pipes kept the Aces in the win column this weekend. Carr had 28 saves in the 5-1 victory on Friday night, 42 in the 2-0 shut-out Saturday, and another 33 saves on Sunday. With four players including leading scorer for the Aces Stephen Perfetto, on call-ups to the AHL, Alaska will depend upon Kevin Carr’s ability to continue their five game winning streak.
Up next for the Aces is a series against the Steelheads in Idaho beginning on November 30th, and they will return to The Sully on December 9th facing the Toledo Walleye for three games.
Contact the author at Liz.Ortiz@prohockeynews.com
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