ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The Alaska Aces defeated the Utah Grizzlies 2-0 at Sullivan Arena on Friday night to take a 1-0 lead in the ECHL's West Division semifinal series.
Utah goaltender Mike Mole stopped 37 of 39 shots from Alaska as the Grizzlies were unable to get anything on the 36 shots that they fired on Aces netminder J.P Lamoureux.
Lamoureux set an all-time ECHL record with eight shutouts during the?regular season on his way to Goaltender of the Year honors.
The game was scoreless for the first 36:47 before the Aces got a power-play goal from Bryan Miller, who threw the puck in through traffic.
The Aces added an even-strength goal from Lance Galbraith to make it 2-0 6:35 into the third period.
Utah had a late power-play and at one point pulled Mole for an extra attacker, making the situation six-on-four in the final seconds, but still was unable to get a goal.
Captain Ryan Kinasewich had five shots in his return to the Utah lineup, as did former Aces forward Bo Cheesman in his Grizzlies debut. Vladimir Nikiforov led Utah with six shots on net.
The Grizzlies and Alaska play Gamd 2 of their best-of-seven series tonight in Anchorage. Face-off is scheduled for 9:15 p.m. MDT.
The series reverts to the E-Center on Wednesday for Game 3. Face-off is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
The remaining series schedule (times MDT):
Game 2: Saturday, April 11, Utah at Alaska; 9:15 p.m.
Game 3: Wednesday, April 15, Alaska at Utah; 7:05 p.m.
Game 4: Friday, April 17, Alaska at Utah; 7:05 p.m.
*Game 5: Saturday, April 18, Alaska at Utah; 7:05 p.m.
*Game 6: Tuesday, April 21, Utah at Alaska; 9:15 p.m.
*Game 7: Wednesday, April 22, Utah at Alaska; 9:15 p.m.