John Lammers scored twice and Scott Reid (pictured in #33 after his preseason win vs. Kalamazoo) posted 15 of his 34 saves in the third period alone as Alaska completed a three-game sweep of Victoria with a 2-1 decision before 3,740 Monday at Sullivan Arena.
The Aces are 3-0 for the first time in 13 years, and new head coach Brent Thompson remains unbeaten behind the bench heading into Alaska's three-game series on the road in Las Vegas that gets underway Thursday at 6:05 p.m. Meanwhile, the Aces have beaten the Salmon Kings in 11 of their last 12 meetings in Anchorage and 13 of 15 overall.
Alaska practices tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. before traveling Wednesday. All three games against the Wranglers (0-1 after a 5-3 loss to Utah Friday) will be broadcast live on KFQD 750 AM, with Peanut Farm Pre-Game Show coverage beginning at 5:45 p.m. The face-off for all three tilts has been set for 6:05 p.m. at the Orleans Arena. The series offers a rematch of last year's conference final, won by the Aces in four straight games.
For the second straight game, Victoria grabbed an early 1-0 lead, taking advantage of an Alaska turnover and scoring after Olivier Latendresse punched home a rebound at 3:32 of the first period. The Salmon Kings held that advantage until the 13:15 mark of the middle frame, when Colin Hemingway drew two defenders and whipped a cross-ice pass to a wide-open Lammers, who tapped in the equalizer. Hemingway also set up the eventual game-winner, a pass that was deflected directly to Lammers in the slot. Lammers snapped home a wrist shot over Glenn Fisher's right shoulder with just 5.2 seconds showing on the second period clock.
The end of the frame featured a fight between Aces captain Scott Burt and former Alaska center Olivier Filion, after which players on both sides, initially heading to their dressing rooms, instead came together and nearly waged a full-scale line brawl. Instead, a bout between Aces winger Lance Galbraith and 'Kings forward Chad Painchaud resulted in game misconducts for both and ended the festivities.
Vicotoria enjoyed three power plays and a 15-6 advantage in shots over the final 20 minutes but never again beat Reid, who went post-to-post to rob Patrick Coulombe's bid on a back door play late in the game. The Salmon Kings finished the series 0-for-16 on the power play with two shorthanded goals against, while the game-winner provided Alaska with its third power play goal of the series in 16 tries.
