Aces win 3-2 in OT, lead series 2-0

In what could have been a somber dressing room before overtime Sunday night - particularly after blowing a two-goal, third-period lead by surrendering the tying goal with 24.2 seconds left in regulation - the Alaska Aces instead played a question-and-answer game designed spark their spirits.
The question: Who's going to be the hero?
Veteran defenseman Bryan Miller, an alternate captain, spoke up: "I got it, boys.''
Yes, it was a bit of bravado -- and he had company -- but Miller backed up the boast with a power-play, one-timer at 7 minutes, 33 seconds of extra time to deliver a 3-2 victory over the Kalamazoo Wings and a 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 ECHL Kelly Cup Finals.
Miller said he was simply trying to buoy his teammates after they gave up the lead in the waning seconds before a standing-room-only crowd of 6,599 at Sullivan Arena.
"It's pretty deflating, everyone is down,'' Miller said. "The best thing about overtime is you have to envision success.
"I'm sure a bunch of other guys said it - I heard a couple of guys say it.''
The Aces, who won Saturday's opener 5-0, gained their power-play opportunity in overtime when the K-Wings, who outplayed the home team for much of the game with their persistent will, were penalized for too many men on the ice.
"You can't shoot yourself in the foot like that,'' said Kalamazoo coach Nick Bootland. "That's just unacceptable this time of year. A center and a winger went on (to the ice) and only a winger (came off).''
Miller's subsequent game-winning strike carried more than a little irony. He and rookie Mark Isherwood pair at defense on the power play, but it is usually Miller furnishing Isherwood the pass so the rookie can unleash his wicked one-timer. This time, though, Isherwood loaded the artillery and Miller fired it from atop the left circle, cranking off a shot that whistled past the attempted shot block of K-Wings defenseman Mitch Versteeg and beat goaltender Ryan Nie high to his glove side.
"That was a bomb,'' Isherwood said.
And no one was more surprised than Miller, a skilled offensive blueliner more likely to score with precision than power.
"Weird, isn't it?'' Miller said. "And me actually getting the puck off the ice for the first time in forever.''
Miller's overtime goal was his second this season - he scored the decider in a 5-4 win at Utah back in November.
Sunday's goal, Miller's second of the playoffs, kept the Aces and goalie Gerald Coleman perfect in the postseason. The Aces have won all 10 of their games and Coleman, who racked his playoff high of 39 saves, has won all nine of his starts.
The overtime win was Alaska's second in the playoffs. Rookie center Chris Langkow, who furnished a first-period, power-play goal to open the scoring less than three minutes into the game and set up Curtis Fraser's first-period goal, scored in overtime to beat Victoria in Game 2 of the Aces' Western Conference Finals sweep.
The series now moves to Michigan for Game 3 on Wednesday night, Game 4 on Friday and, if necessary, Game 5 on Saturday.
The Aces held their 2-0 lead into the third period, and Miller's goal pushed their season record when leading after two periods to 47-0-0.
But perfection was not without peril.
Kalamazoo's Trent Daavettila thought he scored just 41 seconds into the third period when he jammed away at the puck at the right post as Coleman tried to keep it out with his pads and stick. But referee Ryan Murphy did not signal a goal, the goal light did not come on, and Murphy ruled no goal after conferring with linesmen Scott Sivulich and Steve Glines.
Still, Kalamazoo's Brandon Svendsen walked out of the left corner nearly six minutes into the third, side-stepped the attempted check of Isherwood and flicked a dart over Coleman's glove to cut his club's deficit to 2-1.
That goal snapped Coleman's shutout streak at 116:08, nearly the equivalent of two full regulation games. Three times this postseason he has fashioned a shutout streak longer than 100 minutes
With K-Wings goalie Ryan Nie (26 saves) on the bench in favor of an extra attacker in the final minute of regulation, Andrew Fournier picked up the puck, which momentarily had been buried beneath a pile of players in Coleman's crease, and scored for a 2-2 tie with 24.2 ticks left.
Kalamazoo outshot Alaska 41-29 and looked like the Eastern Conference champs after a lackluster performance in the series opener.
"I felt we played a lot better game,'' Bootland said. "We played with more poise and more tenaciousness, and gave ourselves a chance to win.''
No argument from the Aces.
"They came with the effort,'' said Aces captain Scott Burt. "They played hard. They beat us in all the battles on the boards.
"But after we gave up two goals, we didn't hang our heads. We battled.''
And Miller became the sixth Ace of this postseason to deliver a game-winning goal.
"Any guy on any given night can step up to the challenge,'' Langkow said.

Shuffling the deck
Scott Howes' secondary assist on Miller's goal extended his streak of furnishing at least one point in all 10 playoff games. He has at least one point in 16 straight games, dating back to the regular season.
Dan Kissel's assist on Langkow's goal pushed his point streak to five games.
Langkow has scored six goals in the last five games.
The Aces killed off both Kalamazoo power plays Sunday and have killed 30 of 31 opposing power plays in the playoffs.

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Find Doyle Woody's blog at adn.com/hockeyblog or call him at 257-4335.

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Kalamazoo 0 0 2 0 - 2
Aces 2 0 0 1 - 3
First Period - 1, Aces, Langkow 6 (Kissel, Fraser), 2:38 (pp); 2, Aces, Fraser 4 (Langkow, Falite), 9:32. Penalties - Karlander, Kalamazoo (hooking), 1:33; Fraser, Aces (hooking), 5:00; Lloyd, Kalamazoo (tripping), 16:47.
Second Period - None. Penalties - Ftorek, Kalamazoo (high-sticking), 3:56; Clarke, Kalamazoo (roughing), 15:12; Kissel, Aces (slashing), 18:38.
Third Period -3, Kalamazoo, Svendsen 5 (Clarke, McGinnis), 5:51; 4, Kalamazoo, Fournier 4 (Thelen, Daavettila), 19:35. Penalties - Thelen, Kalamazoo (cross-checking), 6:17.
Overtime - 5, Aces, Miller 2 (Isherwood, Howes), 7:33. Penalties - Kalamazoo bench, served by Taylor (too many men), 6:48
Shots on goal - Kalamazoo 15-9-11-6-41. Aces 7-9-10-3-29.
Power-play Opportunities - Kalamazoo 0 of 2; Aces 2 of 6.
Goalies - Kalamazoo, Nie, 11-3-2 (29 shots-26 saves). Aces, Coleman, 9-0-0 (41-39).
A - 6,599 (6,399). Referee - Ryan Murphy. Linesmen - Scott Sivulich, Steve Glines.