Miners blow third period lead, lose 5-3 to the Aces

CANADIAN PRESS (Las Vegas, NV)

Rookie Pavel Zacha broke a 3-3 tie with 1:30 left in the third period, and Paul Byron had a goal and an assist to lead the Las Vegas Aces to a 5-3 win over the Sudbury Miners on Wednesday night.

Aces goaltender Calvin Pickard would make 37 saves and get the win.

The two teams would go into the third period tied at two.  Miners forward Matt Calvert would break the deadlock midway through the period.  A short-handed effort after blocking an Eric Johnson point shot and winning the foot race and slipping it past Pickard.

The Aces would respond five minutes later.  Paul Byron, with his second point of the night, would beat Miners goaltender Ben Bishop, after a capitalizing on a Chris Wideman turnover to the right of Bishop.   Bishop, who was not very busy, made 19 saves in the loss.

The game appeared heading for overtime until Zacha scored the winner late in the period.  Justin Abdelkader would seal the win with an empty-net goal, his first of the year.

"We capitalized on the loose pucks that we got," said Zacha, who scored the winner for the Aces.  “I’m not sure how long I will be up here but it is nice to contribute.  I can tell you this…..I like Las Vegas a lot more than being in Sarnia”.

Despite outshooting the Aces and scoring two short-handed goals in the game, Miners coach Derek Sutton was visibly upset post game.  Puck handling was one area of his team's play that irked Sutton.

"We're trying to make pretty plays," Sutton said. "Lots of turnovers on zone entries, turnovers in the offensive, turnovers in the D zone.  We cannot expect to win when we play like that.   I think guys were too caught up in getting to the Cirque de Soleil…….well, we looked like a circus ourselves the last half of the third period”.


MINERS NUGGETS

- Miners defenseman Toby Enstrom dressed for the warm-up but was a late scratch.  Word is that they wanted to give him just a few more days to recover from his injury.  He is expected back in the lineup on Friday.

- Tobias Reider currently sits as the Miners scoring leader with 10 points in 13 games.

- Goaltender Jake Allen will get the start on Friday versus the Springfield Isotopes.  Springfield currently sits on top of the Canosa Conference with 21 points.