ANCHORAGE, ALASKA – It was fight night at The Sully on Friday, and the pushing and shoving started early. Carr let everyone know that he didn’t want anyone in his crease right off the bat, and this increased the tension from the first few minutes. The Indy Fuel was ready to engage coming off of Wednesday night’s 5-1 loss to the Alaska Aces.
The first fight drawing penalties happened at 4:25 in the opening period. The second altercation at 8:05, the third scrap at 11:15, and the fourth official fight at 18:14 drawing an extra 2 minutes for Aces D-man Levesque for instigating. With a mid-period penalty against the Fuel for interference, these two teams have racked up 22 minutes of penalties for each club in the first period.
Other than the rough conversation, it took a long time for both teams to really wake up. About half-way through the period, the Fuel began putting some pressure on the net, the Aces were dominating face-off wins, and the goaltenders started earning their paychecks, keeping the score 0-0 at the intermission.
Seventeen seconds into the second period, after a scramble in front of the Aces net, the on-ice official called a goal but Carr had the puck in his glove. There is no re-play in ECHL, but since the lamp didn’t light and the off-ice officials called it no-goal, the refs debated for a few minutes and then finally agreed. The Aces responded with a quick goal at 2:36 from Ruegsegger.
At 3:41 into the period, Aces winger Tim Wallace got popped in the chops by Fuel forward Matt Rupert, which started a flurry of power plays with a 4 minute major. Aces defenseman Descoteaux picked up 2 minutes for hooking, and Indy forward Lynch landed in the box with 2 minutes of his own for slashing. 4-on-3, 5-on-3, 5-on-4 only produced two shots on goal in these surprisingly slow power plays.
Fuel responded by scoring as soon as they were at full strength at 11:31 into the second period. Aces then capitalized on a Fuel penalty for hooking and Tim Wallace sent a power play bullet to the back of the net at 17:22. The second intermission began with Aces 2, Fuel 1 and the shots on goal at 22-17.
Fuel started third period off with a couple of shots on goal in the first minute and a half, and won the first three face-offs. They were playing like they mean business, which left the Aces struggling to fend off the pressure. Alaska was still sluggish five minutes into the third, and Indy forward Stanisz sailed a puck right through the screen at 5:04 tying the score at 2-2.
Indy was much more in control in the third period, and the Aces are a little loose and scrambling. At 9:04 Tarasuk takes a puck to the grill, and even though he’s the one down the refs considered him responsible for interference. As soon as he gets out of the box, Tarasuk screws up and catches another penalty for hooking at 12:46. Carr gets full credit for the penalty kills, and with some acrobatic prowess manages to stave off the Fuel through the penalties.
When the clock ticked down and the score tied at 2-2, Alaska and Indy head to overtime. Indy dominates the first couple of minutes of OT, but then picked up a cross-checking penalty on Stanisz at 2:30 giving Alaska a chance. The Aces had a few good opportunities on the power play, but the short period ended before they could make it happen.
The first two rounds of the shootout was positive for both teams, but Tim Coffman missed his shot and Indy took home the win on the back of Fuel forward Brady Ramsay. The take-away from this game is the athletic goaltending, and the energy and fights that propelled the teams and the crowd through the first period all the way to the bitter end. Final score: SOT 2-3 with the Aces picking up a point and the Fuel nabbing two. Shots on goal were mostly even through all three periods ending at 29 for Alaska and 31 for Indy.
In front of a loud and energetic crowd, the Aces are hoping to pick up a couple more points Saturday night. All three games in this series have been scoreless through the first period and this game is no exception. The Fuel stick with Hildebrand in the net, and the Aces have Garteig between the pipes.
Aces had their first shot on goal almost directly from the puck drop, and keep the pressure on for the first few shifts. Indy Fuel was slow to get started, but woke-up started peppering Garteig a few minutes later. Both teams were much better behaved than they were last night. There have been a few good hits, but not the aggression we saw yesterday.
There was only one power play in the first period against the Fuel at 12:17. The Aces are third in the league for penalty kills, and the Fuel is right behind them in fourth place. They improve that stat by killing the slashing penalty and denying three shots on goal. For the third game in a row, these two teams were scoreless heading into the first intermission.
Aces start the second with another bang, but nothing gets to the back of the net. This game is another goalie showdown, but the Fuel draw first blood at 9:45 with a quick wrap-around snuck in by Anthony Beauregard. Aces had an excellent scoring opportunity shortly after when Hildebrand left the back door wide open, but Aces fumbled the puck and the puck got swept out of the crease.
Late in the second period, one of the linesman took an Aces stick to the face and spent the last minute of play getting looked at by the Aces trainer. The game continued with only two on-ice officials, and the Indy ahead by the single goal for the game.
Back on the ice, the third period started with a full suite of officials, and two long runs with no stoppage of play. The officials are not calling any of the potential infractions either, which doesn’t seem to bother anybody. A couple of tripping and possibly an interference call go ignored.
The long shifts have resulted in 10 shots for Alaska and four for Indy by the twelfth minute of play. The fast period feels like the Aces are running out of time, confirmed by Indy forward Matt Rupert when he popped his own rebound into the net at 15:41 bringing the Fuel lead to 2-0.
Garteig is pulled at 17:55, and the extra attacker is introduced. There was a lot of action in front of Hildebrand, with two saves and at least three blocked shots. A little scrap behind the action at 19:37 brings double minors for roughing and Currier and Coffman get an escort to the locker rooms. The empty net nets nothing for the Aces, and the final is a win for Indy: 0-2, SOG 37-31.
The Aces hit the road to meet the Wichita Thunder for next weekend’s round of games, and then bring it back home the Friday after Thanksgiving to face division rivals the Utah Grizzlies.
Contact the author at Liz.Ortiz@prohockeynews.com
Follow the author on Twitter @LizOrtizPHN or @prohockeynews
You must be logged in to post a comment.