Under normal circumstances, the Alaska Aces' 3-2 overtime road loss to the Colorado Eagles on Sunday would have been particularly piercing, given the Aces gifted the game-tying goal and never trailed until Sam Jardine's dagger 68 seconds into extra time.
But circumstances conspired against the Aces, and the point they earned in the ECHL standings is one of the most pivotal they have pocketed this hockey season.
For starters, Sunday's game was the finale of the Aces' three-week, 10-game journey across the country and back.
It was also their fourth game in five days.
And to get to Colorado, the Aces (30-21-9) bused six hours overnight from Rapid City, South Dakota, following a 5-3 win over the Rush on Saturday, and only had time for naps before the afternoon game in Loveland.
Oh, and Colorado (41-15-5) is the second-best team on the 27-team circuit. Plus, the Eagles had not played since a 5-4 overtime loss to the Aces on Wednesday night.
All those factors pointed to the likelihood of an easy afternoon for the Eagles.
Instead, the Aces got a point out of the game and closed the road trip at 5-3-2 for 12 of a possible 20 points.
And after they started the road trip with a one-point lead over Utah and a two-point lead over Missouri in the race for the final playoff spot in the Mountain Division, the Aces ended the journey with more cushion in the standings. They lead Utah by four points and Missouri by six points.
Alaska managed that even though leading goal scorer Peter Sivak missed all 10 games of the trip with a lower-body injury and leading scorer Stephen Perfetto missed six of the 10 games. Perfetto sat out the first three games with an upper-body injury and missed the last three while on promotion to the American Hockey League. And rookie goaltender Michael Garteig missed the last seven games of the trip while on call-up to the AHL.
"In the grand scheme of it, the length of this trip and the distance covered – crazy – once the sting (of losing) wears off, we'll be pretty happy with ourselves,'' Aces coach Rob Murray said by cellphone.
Tyler Shattock furnished the Aces a 1-0 first-period lead and Colorado's Matt Garbowsky delivered the second-period equalizer with his team-leading 33rd goal. But Tim Wallace's strike late in the second period off a Tim Coffman feed restored Alaska's lead at 2-1.
The Eagles forged a 2-2 tie midway through the third period when Aces goaltender Kevin Carr went behind the net to play the puck. He fired the puck in an attempt to clear the zone, but 6-foot-3 Eagles rookie Cam Maclise, in his second pro game, reached up, gloved the puck, dropped it to the ice and fired into a yawning net.
Tough break for Carr, who was exceptional with 35 saves. He carried the load for the Aces on the trip by making the last eight starts, the longest such starting stretch for an Aces masked man this season.
Jardine scored in overtime off a 2-on-1 feed from Luke Salazar.
The Aces are scheduled to travel home Monday, but there's little rest for the weary. They open a three-game home series against Cincinnati on Wednesday night at Sullivan Arena.
Shuffling the deck
Coffman's assist gives him at least one point in 12 of the last 13 games, and 10-11—21 totals in that span.
Coffman led Aces scorers on the 10-game trip with 9-9—18 totals. Wallace checked in at 4-8—12. Yan-Pavel Laplante, who assisted on Wallace's goal, went 3-7—10 in 10 games. And Danny Moynihan, who assisted on Shattock's goal, went 6-3—9. Shattock was 3-4—7 on the trip.
On the blue line, Nolan Descoteaux was 2-5—7 in eight games played on the trip and Steven Tarasuk was 2-5—7 in 10 games.
Aces 1 1 0 0 2
Colorado 0 1 1 1 3
First Period – 1, Aces, Shattock 12 (Moynihan, Sampair), 13:26. Penalties – Maclise, Colorado (hooking), 8:14; Stewart, Aces (slashing), 14:26.
Second Period – 2, Colorado, Garbowsky 33 (Harrison, Register), 8:04; 3, Aces, Wallace 18 (Coffman, Laplante), 18:38. Penalties – Jones, Aces (cross-checking), 1:43; Bootland, Colorado, major (fighting), 8:06; Laplante, Aces, major (fighting), 8:06.
Third Period – 4, Colorado, Maclise 1, 10:45 (pp). Penalties – Lauwers, Aces (interference), 10:00; Harrison, Colorado (interference), 15:08; Bootland, Colorado (slashing), 17:26.
Overtime – 5, Colorado, Jardine 4 (Salazar), 1:08. Penalties — None.
Shots on goal – Aces 8-8-5-0—21. Colorado 11-14-12-1—38.
Power-play Opportunities – Aces 0 of 3. Colorado 1 of 3.
Goalies – Aces, Carr, 16-15-4 (38 shots-35 saves). Colorado, Simpson, 6-6-1 (21-19).
A – 5,289 (5,289). T – 2:33.
Referee – Korey Chipperfield. Linesmen – Jon Shaw, Chris Wilson.