A near disastrous hockey ending was saved by Peter Sivak 16 seconds into overtime against the Rapid City Rush.
The Aces surrendered a two-goal lead in the final 80 seconds of regulation, but Stephen Perfetto found Sivak in the slot in the opening seconds of overtime, and the veteran right winger hammered in the goal on his own rebound Sunday at Sullivan Arena.
The Aces defeated Rapid City 5-4 and took four of six points in their first ECHL home series of the season.
"Pete's a special type of player," Perfetto said. "I just ended up finding him in the slot, and I had a big feeling he was going to bury (it). He's pretty good at scoring from that area, so I wasn't surprised when he ended up burying it."
On the scoreboard, the game was easily the closest of the series. The Aces (3-2-0) dominated the first game Friday 6-3 — a game they led 6-0 — and the Rush (1-7-0) controlled the second game Saturday, 5-1.
On Sunday, both teams came out fast, with the Aces taking the lead three times on three goals and the Rush tying the game twice.
Aces defenseman Ryan Trenz opened the scoring with a rocket from the blue line on assists from Dax Lauwers and Perfetto.
Rapid City's Brayden Low equalized the score three minutes later on a pass from Hunter Fejes of Anchorage.
The wild first period continued with goals from former NHLer Tim Wallace for the Aces and Ryan Misiak for Rapid City, and finally a Perfetto goal that gave the Aces a 3-2 lead.
Defense picked up for most of the next two periods. A Ben Lake goal in the second period gave the Aces a two-goal cushion, but the Aces continued to pressure Rapid City.
Alaska outshot the Rush in every period, generating 59 to the Rush's 25 and 15-9 in the third period.
In desperation mode, the Rush used an extra attacker to score two unlikely goals when they needed them most.
Ryan Walters — the Aces' nemesis with two goals Saturday — found an opening at the net and got a shot past Alaska rookie goalie Michael Garteig with 1:19 remaining in the game. Moments later, Rush forward Nathan Moon tied the game at 4-4 on a deflection with 14 seconds left in regulation.
"The first one just bounced out in front, and a guy got a whack at it," Garteig said. "The second one, the guy went to shoot it on net, it hit a skate and went right through a guy backdoor, which was an unfortunate bounce, but that's the way hockey is sometimes.
"Obviously would have liked to get some our own way, but it happens."
Sivak's game-saving goal in overtime negated the Aces' late game woes and Alaska remains undefeated when Garteig is in the net. Garteig stopped 21 pucks on 25 Rush shots to move to 3-0 on the season.
"Maybe I'm the good luck charm," Garteig joked. "It's my job to do the best I can and give the team a chance to win.
"Tonight was not the prettiest, but at the end we do get a win. That's what matters at the end of the day, so you have to take what you can get and keep moving forward."
The Aces begin November with a two-game series at the two-time defending Kelly Cup champion Allen Americans on Saturday and Sunday.
Against the Americans, the Aces will try to net their first power-play goal of the season. The Aces are 3-2 despite being one of two ECHL teams yet to register a power-play goal.
Rapid City 2 0 2 0 — 4
Aces 3 1 0 1 — 5
First Period — 1, Aces, Trenz 1 (Lauwers, Perfetto), 2:35; 2, Rapid City, Low 3 (Fejes), 5:23; 3, Aces, Wallace 1 (Descoteaux, Coffman), 5:40; 4, Raid City, Misiak 1 (Miglio), 12:18; 5, Aces, Perfetto 4 (Levesque, Stewart), 18:50. Penalties — Young, Rapid city (holding), 6:38.
Second Period — 6, Aces, Lake 2 (Hunt, Sampair), 7:13. Penalties — Sivak, Aces (interference on goalkeeper), 4:25; Boivin, Rapid City, major (fighting), 6:59; Lauwers, Aces, major (fighting), 6:59; Weselowski, Rapid City (hooking), 18:13.
Third Period — 7, Rapid City, Walters 3 (Moon, Misiak), 18:41; 8, Rapid City, Moon 1 (Walters, Sparks), 19:45. Penalties — Moon, Rapid City (unsportsmanlike conduct, roughing), 5:47; Hunt, Aces (roughing), 5:47; Perfetto, Aces (tripping), 6:12.
Shots on goal — Rapid City 12-4-9-0—25. Aces 22-20-15-2—59.
Power-play Opportunities — Rapid City 0 of 2. Aces 0 of 3.
Goalies — Rapid City, Patterson, (1-3-0) (59 shots-54 saves); Aces, Garteig, (3-0-0) (25-21).
A — 3,049. T — 2:33.
Referee — Sean Fernandez. Linesmen — Chad Colliander, Scott Sivulich.