Yes, it's still early, just 13 games into a 72-game haul, but the Alaska Aces show signs of a bounce-back hockey season.
Sunday afternoon, they delivered their first third-period bounce-back of the ECHL campaign, generating four goals in the final 10-plus minutes for a 6-4 road win against the Wichita Thunder in Kansas.
The Aces, who trailed 3-2 after two periods, entered Sunday's third period 0-4-0 when trailing after two. Wichita entered 5-0-0 when leading after two.
Alaska, coming off a 27-38-7 downer last season that marked the worst season in its 13 on the ECHL circuit, improved to 8-4-1. Through 13 games last season, the Aces were 4-8-1.
The Aces also improved to 5-2-0 on the road after going 10-21-5 in road rinks last season.
Friday's comeback in a frantic final 10-plus minutes included a flurry of three goals – two for the Aces, one for the Thunder – in 72 seconds before Alaska's Peter Sivak delivered the dagger with his empty-net goal in the last minute.
Stephen Perfetto's goal at 9:43 of the third furnished the Aces a 3-3 tie and Tim Wallace's strike six minutes later earned them their first lead of the game at INTRUST Bank Arena at 4-3.
But Wichita's Nathan Moon banked a bad-angle shot off the skate of Aces goaltender Michael Garteig 36 seconds after Wallace's goal to forge a 4-4 tie. The Aces answered in kind – Garet Hunt banged in a Justin Breton rebound 36 seconds after Moon's goal to restore Alaska's lead at 5-4. Sivak's empty-netter, off assists from Wallace and Perfetto, gave the Aces a 6-4 cushion with 28 seconds left.
The Aces received a career-high 40 saves from Garteig, a rookie, who also racked his first pro assist and Monday will continue his tour of North America. Garteig, who was summoned to NHL Vancouver on Thursday to serve as a backup for one game, is headed to the Utica Comets, the Aces' affiliate in the American Hockey League. He takes with him a 7-1-0 record, 2.32 goals-against average, .926 save percentage and one shutout – Garteig stopped 36 shots in a 5-0 win over Wichita on Saturday night.
Garteig's departure heading into a three-game homestand against the Utah Grizzlies leaves Alaska's duties in net to third-year pro Kevin Carr. Carr is accustomed to a heavy workload – he played 45 games for Tulsa last season and 52 games for Tulsa in 2014-15.
Alaska on Sunday also received goals from rookies Daniel Moynihan and Tommy Olczyk, who both scored for the second straight game. Moynihan's goal was his third in two games after scoring once in his first 10 games.
Wichita (7-5-0) received two goals from Alexis Loiseau, who scored three goals in the three-game series and is tied for second in the league with 10 goals. Wichita's Scott Greenham, the former UAF goalie, stopped 33 shots.
Shuffling the deck
The Aces have four players who are averaging at least one point per game in 13 games – Perfetto (8-13—21), Sivak (8-11—19), Tim Coffman (8-7—15) and Wallace (4-9—13).
Perfetto's average of 1.62 points per game leads the league among players who have skated in more than one game.
Sivak (1-2—3 Sunday) and Perfetto (1-1—2) each furnished their seventh multiple-point game of the season.
Aces defensemen Dax Lauwers and Steven Tarasuk each provided two assists. Lauwers, of Anchorage, has six assists in 13 games after he entered the season with one assist in 27 career ECHL games. Lauwers and Tarasuk were both plus-4 Sunday.
Sivak's game-high nine shots on goal marked the second time this season he has generated nine shots, one shy of his ECHL career high.
Aces 1 1 4 6
Wichita 2 1 1 4
First Period – Wichita, Trecapelli 3 (DeBlouw, Grant), 10:40; 2, Aces, Moynihan 4 (Levesque, Garteig), 11:01; 3, Wichita, Loiseau 9 (Melindy, Gagne), 19:22. Penalties – Marcotte, Wichita (boarding), 11:01; Dunn, Wichita, minor-major (removing helmet, fighting), 15:47; Lauwers, Aces, minor-major (removing helmet, fighting), 15:47.
Second Period – 4, Wichita, Loiseau 10 (Lowe, Nelson), 3:39; 5, Aces, Olczyk 2 (Tarasuk, Coffman), 10:29. Penalties – Lake, Aces (hooking), 6:39; DeBlouw, Wichita (kneeing), 19:17.
Third Period – 6, Aces, Perfetto 8 (Lauwers, Sivak), 9:43; 7, Aces, Wallace 4 (Tarasuk, Sivak), 15:41; 8, Wichita, Moon 5 (Holmberg, Tracapelli), 16:17; 9, Aces, Hunt 1 (Breton, Lauwers), 16:53; 10), Aces, Sivak 8 (Wallace, Perfetto), 19:32 (en). Penalties — None.
Shots on goal – Aces 7-13-18–38. Wichita 13-17-14–44.
Power-play Opportunities – Aces 0 of 2. Wichita 0 of 2.
Goalies – Aces, Garteig, 7-1-0 (44 shots-40 saves). Wichita, Greenham, 5-2-0 (37-33).
A – 5,084 (13,400). T – 2:26.
Referee – Jeremy Tufts. Linesmen – Lucas Bisbee, Chip Excell.