COW PALACE — The Bulls' performance in the rubber match against Alaska proved to be less than stellar.
COW PALACE — The Bulls’ performance in the rubber match against Alaska proved to be less than stellar as they fell to the Aces 5-2 Saturday night.
The Bulls failed to live up to their colorful jerseys — donned on the team’s second annual LBGT night — getting off to another sluggish start.
They gave up two goals to Alaska within a minute and 37 seconds in the first period, to Shawn Skelly (5) and Mathew Sisca.
Head coach Pat Curcio wasn’t pleased with the way the Bulls came out:
“I think we blew a few points this weekend. Friday we started off slow, last night we started slow and tonight we started slow. It’s hard to come back all the time, always chasing teams from behind.”
Brett Findlay (8) scored the Bulls’ first goal at 8:52 in second period, assisted by Dale Mitchell. The Aces answered back four minutes later when Tim Coffman scored to push Alaska’s lead to 3-1 at the end of two.
The Bulls came out in the third period and promptly conceded a goal 37 seconds into the frame to Sisca, his 10th of the season and second of the game.
San Francisco redeemed themselves on a Sebastian Stalberg goal to cut the lead in half. Later in the stanza, Coffman (9) scored his second goal for the Aces to push it to 5-2.
The Bulls suffered from a lack of opportunities, squandering two power plays and missing a handful of chances in front of Olivier Roy (23 saves).
Curcio said the chances were there, but the Bulls couldn’t convert:
“We had some puck movement and we had some chances. We needed good goaltending and I think we looked tired at times. … With the mistakes that we made, they made them equally, but we couldn’t capitalize. They did.”
The Bulls look to bounce back next Wednesday when they host the Colorado Eagles at 7:30 p.m.
The New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks each moved within one victory of the Super Bowl.
Colin Kaepernick threw for 196 yards and a touchdown to lead the 49ers back to the NFC Championship.
