Aces Get Winners' Beads on Mardi Gras 4-2
by Andrew Nordmeier
February 22, 2007 - ECHL (ECHL)
Phoenix RoadRunners
It only seemed ironic that on Fat Tuesday, the team in the ECHL with the fattest win and point total only got fatter. The Alaska Aces picked up their league-leading 37th win of the season by downing the Phoenix Roadrunners 4-2 at the US Airways Center Tuesday night.
Alaska (37-13-3, 77 points) got all the offense it needed in the first 21 minutes. Mike Scott scored his 16th goal of the season 7:48 into the opening period to put the Aces ahead 1-0. Alaska doubled its lead when Joey Talbot beat Phoenix netminder Mike Morrison through the wickets 1:21 into the second period to make it 2-0. The lead swelled to 3-0 when Talbot struck again just 3:03 into the third for his second goal of the contest.
"It was embarrassing. If we would have given an honest fight for sixty minutes we may have had a chance," Phoenix Head Coach Ron Filion said, "After all, we're playing the best team in the league and I would say three quarters of our guys weren't motivated to play the game."
Kyle Orr, nephew of Bobby Orr, scored his first goal in a Roadrunners uniform at 5:11 of the third to break the shutout bid of Alaska goaltender Isaac Reichmuth and keep his team in striking distance.
A defensive breakdown let Scott in on a breakaway and he beat Morrison at 8:03 to re-establish the three-goal lead. Olivier Latendresse got a cosmetic goal in the final minute to make the final 4-2.
Phoenix (23-25-4, 50 points) continues to suffer from a sputtering offense that has scored just 14 goals in its last seven games. The power play has continued to struggle as the Roadrunners have scored just once in their last 51 chances over the last nine games with the man advantage. Not surprisingly, Phoenix has gone 1-7-3 this month and is in danger of losing its grip on the seventh seed in the National Conference to the hard-charging Victoria Salmon Kings, winners of seven of their last ten.
Filion said his team is aware of the Salmon Kings coming up fast in the rear-view mirror but that doesn't seem to be motivating his team either.
Shots favored Alaska 27-22. Neither team converted on the power play; Alaska had nine chances while Phoenix had three.
The Roadrunners close out their five-game homestand with their first tilt of the season against the Bakersfield Condors and are looking for that spark to come from within.
"It's got to come from the players. I've tried pretty much everything," Filion said, "I think it's not in half of our group to be fighters, guys who are ready to do anything to win."
Three Stars of the Night
3. Orr-PHX Kept Phoenix in range
2. Scott-AK Back-breaking tally for Alaska
1. Talbot-AK Two goals in the win
Notes: Alaska is now 10-1-1 lifetime against the Phoenix Roadrunners...Scott and Talbot have been Roadrunner killers as each man scored five times against Phoenix this year and totaled 11 and 12 goals, respectively...In the all-time series Alaska has outscored Phoenix 54-20 with Scott and Talbot themselves scoring more than the entire Phoenix team...In a nine-day span, Phoenix has lost defensemen Dave Pszenyczny, Dusty Demianiuk, Chris Cava and Matthew Deschamps to various injuries...Alaska is 31-0-2 when leading after two periods...This was just the second game in the all-time series decided by fewer than three goals...Attendance was 3,462.
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