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This is how ridiculously tight things are in the ECHL's eight-team National Conference, where the margin of error in the pursuit of playoff positioning remains thinner than a skate blade:
The Alaska Aces' 3-2 win at Las Vegas on Saturday night, which closed their best three-game road weekend of the hockey season, allowed the club to make a three-night leap from sixth place into a tie for third place. Yet, for all that recent prosperity -- the Aces earned five of six possible points in the three-game series in Sin City -- the Aces are just four points clear of last-place Utah. And just six points separate second-place Bakersfield and eighth-place Utah. The position that matters most in the conference is eighth place -- the team that lands in the basement at regular season's end on April 3 is the only club that does not qualify for the Kelly Cup playoffs. The Aces' win Saturday, coupled with Friday's similar 3-2 win, furnished them back-to-back road wins for the first time in nearly four months. Alaska's win Saturday mirrored its win Friday. On both nights at Orleans Arena, the Aces took a 2-0 lead into the third period, promptly found itself tied, then used a game-winning strike from a defenseman. Saturday's hero was Ryan Turek, whose blast through traffic during a 4 on 4 situation with about 11 minutes to go held up as the difference. Bryan Miller authored the winner Friday with his 4 on 4 strike in the final minute. And veteran goaltender Scott Reid, torched in Thursday night's 8-7 overtime loss -- the Aces needed a collective Heimlich after blowing four three-goal leads -- bounced back with his second straight command performance. He stopped 34 shots Saturday after Friday's 33-save gem -- that .944 save percentage over two nights delivered four points in the standings. Alaska stretched its unbeaten streak to eight games. The Aces are 5-0-3 in that span for 13 of a possible 16 points. The Aces (31-26-8) weren't safe Saturday, though, until they killed a Wranglers' two-man advantage that lasted 60 seconds with about five minutes to go, and then held Las Vegas at bay in the final minute after goalie Jimmy Spratt came off for an extra attacker. Aces rookie center Brock McBride continued his production of late with one goal and one assist, which extended his point streak to seven games -- he owns 5-6--11 totals in that span. McBride furnished the Aces a 1-0 lead late in the first period when he scored short-handed. Rookie winger Anthony Peluso doubled the margin with his goal in the second period. Yet the Wranglers (31-28-8), who slipped into a fifth-place tie with Stockton, engineered a comeback similar to Friday's. Defenseman John Schwartz scored on a power-play bomb and Alex Bourret followed at even strength to forge a 2-2 before six minutes were played in the third period before an announced crowd of 6,342. Bourret stretched his point streak to seven games and Adam Miller, who assisted on Bourret's equalizer, pushed his point streak to 14 games. Turek's strike through a screen provided by winger Judd Blackwater buoyed the Aces, who only trailed once in the series, when Las Vegas defenseman Craig Switzer scored 55 seconds into OT on Thursday. Each National Conference team has between six and eight games remaining in the regular season. The Aces have seven games left -- three on the road and the last four at home. The Aces have three days off before they open another three-game road series, this one at seventh-place Ontario beginning Wednesday night. The Reign sit just three points behind the Aces. That's another reminder of how tight the standings remain. And here's another: Alaska started the series in Las Vegas three points out of last place, and after securing five of six points in that series, find themselves just four points clear of the basement.