The potential for elation, and no small amount of relief, dangled out on the Sullivan Arena ice for the Alaska Aces on Wednesday night, and it sat there for what seemed an eternity in a shootout for the ages.
And, then with one cannonading slap shot from Colorado Eagles forward Nathan Moon in the bottom of the 17th round, the Aces' chase for an ECHL playoff spot absorbed a blow.
Moon's game-winning strike in the skills contest culminated Colorado's comeback from a two-goal deficit inside the final four minutes of regulation and earned the Eagles a 4-3 victory.
The Eagles won a shootout – they prevailed 4-3 -- that extended longer than any in the Aces' 12 seasons on the circuit and thus seized their fifth straight victory.
By gaining one point – and, really, squandering one point – the Aces pulled within five points of Utah, which owns fourth place, the final postseason spot in the Pacific Division. The Aces have two games in hand on the Grizzlies, yet they can ill afford to surrender points.
The shootout in the opener of a three-game series lasted so long that Chris Francis and Greg Wolfe of the Aces, and Kyle Kraemer and Moon for the Eagles, each took two attempts.
Kraemer, Derek Rodwell, Vitalijis Pavlovs and Moon scored shootout goals for the Eagles. Chris Francis, Erik Higby and Justin Johnson scored for the Aces.
The game featured an unusual match-up – Aces goaltender Troy Redmann (34 saves in regulation and overtime) and Eagles goaltender Aaron Crandall (29 saves) each faced their former teammates. The Aces picked up Redmann on waivers from Colorado in January and the Eagles acquired Crandall in a trade with the Aces last month.
Alaska owned a 3-1 lead as the clock drained on the third period.
But Brock Nixon's shot from the left point hit traffic and ricocheted past Redmann with 2:33 left to cut Alaska's lead to 3-2. And with Crandall to the bench for an extra attacker, Nixon wristed home a rebound of Kraemer's blocked shot to forge a 3-3 tie with 59.9 seconds left in regulation.
Alaska owned its 3-1 lead courtesy of two goals from Curt Gogol and one from Ryan Walters. Colorado's first-period goal came from defenseman Teigan Zahn, with a helper from former UAA skater Jordan Kwas.
The teams combined for three goals in a span of just 91 seconds inside the game's first five minutes.
Walters bagged his league-leading fifth short-handed goal off a Greg Wolfe rebound to stake the Aces to a 1-0 lead.
But Zahn's power-play shot from the left point beat Redmann to the glove side just 21 seconds later. Colorado's Derek Rodwell set a heavy screen on Redmann.
Yet just 70 seconds after Zahn's equalizer, Bryan Cameron sprung Gogol on a breakaway and he beat Crandall with a wrister through the wickets for a 2-1 lead.
Gogol extended Alaska's lead to 3-1 deep into the second period when he lifted the stick of Colorado defenseman Arthur Bidwell, stripped him of the puck, turned and fired a shot past Crandall on the stick side.
Gogol's two-game game was his team-leading fourth, and his 15 goals have come in just 22 games with the club.
The Aces on Wednesday also said so long Wednesday to defenseman Colten Hayes. Technically, he was recalled to Chicago of the American Hockey League. But Hayes on his Twitter account said he was returning to ECHL Missouri, the team from which the Aces acquired him in a trade in November. It is likely the Aces on Thursday will announce they will receive a player from Missouri in return.
But the lasting memory from Wednesday could be the point that the Aces slipped away – or the Eagles seized, depending on your point of view.
After all, the Aces never trailed Wednesday – until Moon's slapper sent an announced crowd of 3,690 quietly to the exits.
Reach Doyle Woody at dwoody@alaskadispatch.com, check out his blog at adn.com/hockey-blog and follow him on Twitter at @JaromirBlagr
Colorado 1 0 2 0 - 4
Alaska 2 1 0 0 - 3
1st Period-1, Alaska, Walters 13 (Wolfe, Currier), 3:24 (SH). 2, Colorado, Zahn 3 (Pavlovs, Kwas), 3:45 (PP). 3, Alaska, Gogol 14 (Cameron), 4:55. Penalties-Leduc Col (roughing), 0:32; Baldwin Ak (roughing), 0:32; Cole Ak (cross-checking), 2:35; Zahn Col (holding), 14:31; Moon Col (roughing), 17:53; Zahn Col (roughing), 17:53; Baldwin Ak (roughing), 17:53; Renwick Ak (boarding), 19:42.
2nd Period-4, Alaska, Gogol 15 18:21. Penalties-Zahn Col (fighting - major), 2:03; Johnson Ak (fighting - major), 2:03; Knowlton Col (tripping), 9:56; Zahn Col (slashing ), 11:28; Moon Col (slashing ), 13:08; Renwick Ak (tripping), 15:38.
3rd Period-5, Colorado, Nixon 25 (Daavettila), 17:27. 6, Colorado, Nixon 26 (Kraemer, Pavlovs), 19:00. Penalties-No Penalties
OT Period- No Scoring.Penalties-No Penalties
Shootout - Colorado 4 (Nixon NG, Knowlton NG, Kwas NG, Kraemer G, Moon NG, Rodwell G, Daavettila NG, Bidwill NG, Zimmerman NG, Nemec NG, Gardner NG, Pavlovs G, Duszynski NG, Zahn NG, Leduc NG, Kraemer NG, Moon G), Alaska 3 (Francis G, Wolfe NG, Walters NG, Gogol NG, Poulin NG, Higby G, Breton NG, Doty NG, Cameron NG, Markovic NG, Currier NG, Johnson G, Renwick NG, Cole NG, Baldwin NG, Francis NG, Wolfe NG).
Shots on Goal-Colorado 9-11-14-3-1-38. Alaska 10-13-7-2-0-32.
Power Play Opportunities-Colorado 1 / 3; Alaska 0 / 5.
Goalies-Colorado, Crandall 7-5-2-0 (32 shots-29 saves). Alaska, Redmann 9-1-0-3 (37 shots-34 saves).
A-3,690
Referees-Andy Thackaberry (22).
Linesmen-Steve Glines (44), Scott Sivulich (73).