All it took for the Alaska Aces to stop the Victoria Salmon Kings' remarkable 15-game winning streak with a 3-2 shootout victory Wednesday night was, well, a little bit of everything.
And all of it was of the highest quality, which was the minimum requirement to even momentarily slow down the league leaders.
The Aces needed:
• Excellence from goaltender Marek Schwarz, to the tune of 27 saves in regulation and overtime, and a perfect four-save performance in the shootout.
• Enough resiliency and patience to twice rebound from one-goal deficits and forge the game-tying goal on center Alexandre Imbeault's strike with 2 minutes, 15 seconds remaining in regulation.
• Defenseman Derick Martin's goal-saving dive in the second period. He sprawled into the Alaska crease and got his stick on a rebound shot from league-leading goal scorer Wes Goldie, whose bid appeared to be trickling into Schwarz's cage.
• A pivotal penalty-killing sequence in the second period, when the Aces were two men short for 1:39 and escaped unscathed.
• And, finally, after 65 minutes of high-tempo hockey, shootout goals from Tomas Kana and Luke Erickson.
Even then, Victoria, which had reeled off 15 straight wins in regulation, the second-longest regular-season streak in the 21-season history of the ECHL, still earned a point in the standings. Wednesday marked the first time since Dec. 5 that the Salmon Kings did not capture two points.
"In a shootout, it can go either way,'' said Salmon Kings center Olivier Filion, the former longtime Ace. "There was good defensive play, good offensive play, good goaltending.
"Good game.''
It ended with the Aces exchanging high fives along their goal line after Schwarz stopped Victoria defenseman Dylan Yeo, the last of the Salmon Kings' four shooters.
"In shootouts, I just want to have fun,'' Schwarz said. "That's all I think about.''
And what exactly rates as having fun in a shooter vs. goalie showdown before a crowd of 3,827 at Sullivan Arena?
"Stopping shots,'' Schwarz said with a grin.
The Aces prospered in the shootout when Kana, Alaska's first shooter, threaded a backhand between the pads of Victoria goalie Julien Ellis (21 saves) and Erickson, the fourth shooter, whistled a wrister over Ellis' glove.
That the Aces (21-14-2) were in position to gain two points came courtesy of Imbeault's goal in the waning minutes. Linemate Colin Hemingway carried the puck into the Victoria zone on left wing and threaded a pass to Cam Keith on Ellis' doorstep. Keith tipped the pass and Imbeault, driving to the net, slipped a shot past Ellis' left pad to forge a 2-2 tie.
The Salmon Kings (26-9-3) had earned a 2-1 lead on defenseman Patrick Coulombe's goal late in the second period. His shot from the left point eluded Schwarz, who was screened by Martin, and darted over Schwarz's right shoulder as he peeked around Martin to find the puck.
"I looked over (Martin's) left shoulder and it went over the right shoulder,'' Schwarz said. "I just picked the wrong side.''
Victoria nearly gained the lead minutes earlier when Goldie's rebound at the edge of the crease trickled through a prone Schwarz and into the blue ice of the crease. Martin dove into the net and used his backhand to pull the puck away from the goal line and back to Schwarz, who smothered it with his glove.
"Pretty lucky,'' Martin said.
"Teamwork,'' Schwarz said.
Victoria, which outscored opponents 68-21 on its 15-game streak and only twice had to squeeze out one-goal victories, jumped ahead 1-0 just seven minutes into the game when Filion struck on the power play. Stationed low in the right circle, he took a perfect pass from Yeo, the league's leading scorer among defensemen, and whistled a one-timer into the net before Schwarz could push across to cover his post.
For Filion, who played four seasons for the Aces before starting this season in France and returning to hook up with the Salmon Kings, Wednesday marked his return to Sullivan Arena, where he was always a fan favorite.
"It was weird coming here and jumping on the ice, and seeing a few fans with 'FILION' jerseys on,'' he said. "I heard cheers and I heard some boos. That's normal -- I play for the other team.''
But Anchorage still feels a little like home to him. Fifteen minutes after the game, he talked with his friend and former teammate, Aces defenseman Matt Shasby, and held Shasby's son, Camden, as they spoke.
Alaska pulled even at 1-1 in the last minute of the first period. Tomas Kana rushed the puck up the right wing and centered to Lance Galbraith, the winger who was driving down the high slot in his first game since missing eight matches with a knee injury. Galbraith shoveled the puck from his skates in one motion and redirected it through Ellis' pads.
"I was just trying to put it on net,'' Galbraith said. "Kana made a nice pass. There was nothing fancy, just got it on net.''
By the time the game got deep into the third period, the Aces were making a push, and Ellis held them in check until Imbeault generated his 12th goal of the season.
"(The Salmon Kings) are on a big roll and it's like, 'Oh, my God, what's it going to take?' " Galbraith said. "But one thing we've talked about is having patience, and we did.
"We just kept pressing and pressing.''
Shuffling the deck
Kana this morning is headed back to Peoria of the American Hockey League, said Aces coach Keith McCambridge.
In this latest nine-game stint with the Aces, Kana produced 2-4--6 totals and a plus-4 rating.
Aces rookie defenseman Ryan Turek made his pro debut Wednesday night and fared well with a plus-1 rating.
Find Doyle Woody's blog at adn.com/hockeyblog or call him at 257-4335.
Victoria 1 1 0 0 -- 2
Aces 1 0 1 1 -- 3
First Period -- 1, Victoria, Filion 9 (Yeo, Kelly), 6:51 (pp); 2, Aces, Galbraith 5 (Kana, Erickson), 19:14. Penalties -- Keith, Aces (hooking), 5:31; Imbeault, Aces (slashing), 14:56; Keith, Aces (cross-checking), 16:49.
Second Period -- 3, Victoria, Coulombe 4 (Deitrich), 18:20. Penalties -- B. Hemingway, Aces (hooking), 5:31; Burt, Aces (tripping), 5:53; Wedderburn, Victoria (hooking), 8:04; Benn, Victoria (interference), 10:29; Kana, Aces (hooking), 14:48.
Third Period -- 4, Aces, Imbeault 12 (Keith, C. Hemingway), 17:45. Penalties -- Tuzzolino, Aces (delay of game-puck over glass), 3:53.
Overtime -- None. Penalties -- None.
Shootout -- Aces 2 (Kana G, Novak NG, Erickson G), Victoria 0 (St. Jacques NG, Goldie NG, Billsten NG, Yeo NG).
Shots on goal -- Victoria 3-18-5-3--29. Aces 5-7-10-1--23.
Power-play Opportunities -- Victoria 1 of 7; Aces 0 of 2.
Goalies -- Victoria, Ellis (5-1-0) (23 shots-21 saves). Aces, Schwarz (1-2-1) (29-27).
A -- 3,827 (6,251). T -- 2:27.
Referee -- Ryan Sweeney. Linesmen -- Scott Sivulich, Steve Glines.
By DOYLE WOODY
dwoody@adn.com