Aces avoid ouster in OT

It looked like they had it, but the Wranglers let their chance at a sweep of Alaska slip away.

F.P. Guenette scored on a shot from the left circle 8:17 into overtime to lift Alaska to a dramatic 6-5 victory over Las Vegas in Game 4 of the ECHL National Conference semifinals on Thursday night at Sullivan Arena in Anchorage, Alaska.

The Wranglers, who gave up a short-handed, tying goal with 40 seconds remaining in regulation, still hold a 3-1 lead in the best-of-7 series and will try to close it out in Game 5 at 8:15 p.m. tonight at Sullivan Arena.

Kimbi Daniels set up the winning score for the Aces, firing a pass from behind the net to Guenette, who was all alone in the left circle. Wranglers goalie Kevin Lalande went down to stop the shot, but Guenette lifted it into the top of the net to keep the season alive for Alaska.

"It hurts a lot, but at the same time, we've got to shrug it off because we're up 3-1," Peter Ferraro said. "Now we've got to refocus for (tonight). This game is behind us, and we have to go into (tonight) with the same focus and stay out of the (penalty) box."

Alaska's Cam Keith finished off the Wranglers in the second round of the 2006 ECHL Kelly Cup playoffs, scoring the winning goal in triple overtime of Game 6 to eliminate Las Vegas.

Keith was up to his old tricks again Thursday night, scoring on a wraparound backhander that bounced off traffic and into the net to tie it 5-5 and send the game to overtime. Aces defenseman Peter Metcalf was penalized for holding the stick with 1:02 left, and Alaska pulled its goalie to set up 5-on-5 play.

Peter Ferraro missed Game 3 on Tuesday with an illness but was poised to be the hero of Game 4 for the Wranglers before Keith's late score.

Ferraro scored two goals in a span of 3:36 to give Las Vegas a 5-4 lead with 2:23 remaining in regulation.

The former NHL player scored a power-play goal with 5:59 to play to tie the game 4-4, scoring on a one-timer from the right circle after taking a cross-ice pass from Jason Jozsa.

Ferraro gave the Wranglers a short-lived 5-4 lead a few minutes later when he beat Alaska goalie Marek Schwarz from the right circle.

The Wranglers had only allowed one power-play goal in 36 chances over nine playoff games, but they allowed three in the first 6:02 of the third period Thursday. Alaska went 3-for-7 on the power play.