Three goals in a span of 1:17 early in the second period and a hat-trick from Alex Guptill lead the Evansville IceMen to a 5-3 victory Sunday over the Alaska Aces at Sullivan Arena in Anchorage.
The IceMen scored the game’s first goal for just the third time this season, when Guptill backhanded in a rebound from the slot at 6:09 of the first period. Alaska tied the game 1:12 later when Gleason Fournier scored his third of the weekend. Fournier was stopped initially by IceMen goalie Keegan Asmundson, but batted a rebound out of the air to tie the game 1-1 heading into the intermission.
Evansville started the second period on a four minute power-play and Guptill struck twice more to complete his hat-trick 2:01 into the frame. With Patrick Wellar in the penalty box serving a double-minor, Jordan Sims set up Guptill for a one-timer that beat Aces goaltenderSteven Summerhays with three seconds left in the first power-play. 25 seconds later, Guptill snapped his third goal under the crossbar from the top of the left circle on the second power-play.
Sims then lobbed a head-man pass from the IceMen zone ahead to Justin MacDonald, who scored on a breakaway 52 seconds after Guptill’s hat-trick to give Evansville a 4-1 lead. The IceMen outshot Alaska 15-9 in the middle period and took their three-goal lead into the third period.
The Aces converted on a power-play at 4:01 of the final period to cut Evansville’s lead to 4-2, when Fournier scored his fourth of the weekend on a shot from the point that made it through a screen and past Asmundson. Alaska then cut the lead to one, when Tim Coffmanset up Collin Valcourt for a tap-in goal with 5:31 to play. With their net empty, the Aces had several grade-A scoring chances in the final minute, but Asmundson closed the door on the Alaska comeback.
IceMen leading scorer Tyson Fawcett launched an empty-net goal the length of the ice that beat the buzzer for his eighth of the season to seal the win, as Evansville earned its third victory in its last four games. Asmundson stopped a career-high 41 Aces shots in his first IceMen win.
