With their two leading scorers still sidelined by injury and their captain a last-minute medical scratch, the Alaska Aces twice fell behind by two goals Saturday night.
Those daunting deficits came on the road against the Manchester Monarchs, who entered as the third-best ECHL hockey team at home and the sixth-best overall on the 27-team circuit.
Yet the Aces staged a three-goal, third-period rally before falling 5-4 in overtime at SNHU Arena in New Hampshire.
"No quit whatsoever,'' Aces coach Rob Murray said by cellphone. "I'm really proud of the guys. It was a unifying game for us and, hopefully, we can build on that.
"I told the guys before overtime, 'You battled your asses off tonight.' ''
The point in the standings the Aces (26-18-8) earned in the second game of a three-week, 10-game road trip from hell proved pivotal. It allowed the Aces to remain in fourth place in the Mountain Division, where the top four finishers made the Kelly Cup playoffs. Alaska, with 60 points in 52 games, leads Missouri, by three points and has one game in hand. The Aces got help Saturday from Idaho, which fell behind 4-1 at Missouri inside the opening 15 minutes and rallied for a 5-4 win in regulation.
The Aces, 4-3 winners at beleaguered Elmira in their trip opener Thursday, trailed 2-0 in the opening minute of the second period and 3-1 early in the third period of a game that doubled as a shooting gallery. Manchester (30-14-10) and Alaska combined for 91 shots on goal, 46 for the hosts, 45 for the visitors.
But center Tim Coffman wired consecutive goals in a five-minute span to forge a 3-3 tie midway through the period.
Still, that deadlock lasted 49 seconds before Wade Murphy's first pro goal delivered Manchester a 4-3 lead.
The Aces answered with less than three minutes left in regulation. Tyler Shattock took defenseman Steven Tarasuk's pass from below the goal line and jammed it past Sam Brittain (41 saves) to generate a 4-4 tie.
Overtime was over quickly. After Alaska's Tim Wallace, who assisted on Shattock's equalizer, missed the net, the Monarchs counter-attacker Matt Leitner beat Michael Garteig (41 saves) to wrap his four-point night. Leitner furnished three principal assists.
Murray said the Aces were sparked by a skirmish early in the third period after which winger Tyler Ruegsegger required eight stitches in his forehead and was done for the night. Murray said rookie defenseman Mackenze Stewart later challenged a Manchester player to fight but the opponent demurred, and that fired up the Aces even more.
"There was mojo on the bench,'' Murray said. "They guys were just jammed.''
The Aces played their 10th straight game without veteran winger Peter Sivak (lower-body injury). Sivak nonetheless still entered Saturday with a league-leading 32 goals. Out for the second straight game was Sivak's first-line center, Stephen Perfetto (upper-body injury).
And captain Garet Hunt was a last-second scratch after warm-ups. Murray said Hunt was diagnosed with appendicitis and was scheduled to undergo surgery Saturday night.
The Aces play Manchester in a matinee Sunday before they head to Utah to start the western portion of their trip. The remainder of the trip features three games at Utah and two each at Colorado and Rapid City.
Shuffling the deck
Coffman's two-goal game was his fourth of the season and his 10th multiple-point game. With 19-23—42 totals in 52 games, he owns career highs in goals and points.
Ben Lake's second-period goal was the center's eighth in 51 games. Last season as a rookie, he scored seven goals in 66 games.
The 91 combined shots were the most in an Aces game this season. The previous high was 84. Alaska (49 shots) and Utah (35) combined for 84 shots in the Aces' 4-2 home win on Feb. 8. Alaska (59) and Rapid City (25) combined for 84 shots in the Aces' 5-4 OT win on Oct. 30.
Aces 0 1 3 0 — 4
Manchester 1 2 1 1 — 5
First Period — 1, Manchester, Lynch 15 (Leitner), 7:32. Penalties — Jones, Aces (interference), 5:41; Robinson, Manchester (hooking), 6:41; Elbrecht, Manchester (roughing), 13:50; Coffman, Aces (roughing), 13:50.
Second Period — 2, Manchester, Bozon 2 (Rome, Elbrecht), :38; 3, Aces, Lake 8 (Sampair, Ruegsegger), 17:30; 4, Manchester, Schemitsch 1 (Leitner, Doherty), 19:21 (pp). Penalties — Trenz, Aces, (kneeing), 18:23.
Third Period — 5, Aces, Coffman 18 (Moynihan, Descoteaux), 5:58 (pp); 6, Aces, Coffman 19 (Jones, Stewart), 10:53; 7, Manchester, Murphy 1 (Leitner, Kolomatis), 11:42; 8, Aces, Shattock 10 (Tarasuk, Wallace), 17:15. Penalties — Rome, Manchester, major (fighting), 2:43; Ruegsegger, Aces, major (fighting), 2:43; Turgeon, Manchester, double-minor (roughing), 2:43; Jones, Aces, double-major (roughing), 2:43; Lynch, Manchester (slashing), 4:25; Shattock, Aces (boarding), 6:57.
Overtime — 9, Manchester, Leitner . Penalties — None.
Shots on goal — Aces 12-14-19-0—45. Manchester 13-17-15-1—46.
Power-play Opportunities — Aces 1 of 2. Manchester 1 of 3.
Goalies — Aces, Garteig, 11-6-3 (46 shots-41 saves). Manchester, Brittain, 20-7-5 (45-41).
A — 5,011 (9,852). T — 2:43.
Referee — Kenny Anderson. Linesmen — J.P. Waleski, Jarred Mitrano.