As the Aberdeen Wings battle for position in the upcoming playoffs, Friday’s finish was tough to swallow.

The Wings led nearly the entire way, outshot their opponent by nearly a dozen, but were unable to finish off St. Cloud, which captured a 4-3 overtime victory in NAHL Hockey at the Odde Ice Center.

“It’s one of those games you’d like to have back,” said Wings coach Scott Langer. “You gave it away and luckily it’s not going to cost us a playoff spot.”

While Aberdeen has secured a playoff spot, it still has a chance to possibly obtain home-ice advantage for the opening round. However, the Wings fell one point further behind in that quest with the overtime setback to the Norsemen.

The Wings owned a 3-1 lead in the third period before St. Cloud scored a power play goal to close the deficit to one. Aberdeen played with that one-goal lead until late in regulation. The Norsemen pulled their goalie and found the game-tying goal with 14 seconds left in regulation.

Aberdeen controlled the puck early in the extra period, but failed to cash in.

“We had a lot of chances there in the first minute and a half or two minutes of overtime,” Langer said. “We just didn’t put it in the back of the net.”

The Norsemen eventually got the puck in the Aberdeen zone and when the Wings were called for a penalty, the visitors received another power-play chance. Christian Nichols ended the game on his third goal of the contest with 1:22 left in overtime.

“Continue to take bad penalties, it’s going to catch up with you,” Langer said. “St. Cloud’s always had a good power play and they were able to come back into the game because of it. Obviously, they got the game-winner because of the penalty.”

Aberdeen outshot St. Cloud 39-28, but came away empty on a lot of those opportunities.

“We had them the whole game and kept them in the game,” said Aberdeen’s Caden Lee. “We had a lot of chances, especially me, too, just to put away the game. We just couldn’t do it. We just need to be better on finishing.”

After Cooper Anderson started the scoring for Aberdeen, the Norseman tied the game in the closing seconds of the first period.

The Wings then dominated action in the second period as Jibber Kuhl put the hosts ahead, before Lee scored on a two-man power play a few minutes later.

The power play resulted in all of the players congregating in front of the St. Cloud goal as the Wings kept inching closer and closer to the net.

“A 5-on-3 you start out really wide and you start pressing that team down and down,” Lee said, “and then it gets closer to the net and you keep shooting.”

Does having so many bodies in such a confined area on the ice make it easier or harder to score?

“I’d say it’s kind of a mix,” Lee said. “You kind of have to get lucky sometimes, just close your eyes and kind of shoot it.”

Lee somehow got the puck past all of the players between him and the back of the net.

“I just shot it and just luckily went in,” Lee said. “It went through everyone.”

That goal looked like it might be the game-winner, but St. Cloud hung around setting the stage for a wild finish.

“Power play goals. That’s the difference in the game,” Langer said. “They were able to do that, score 6-on-5, because we couldn’t clear the puck. You make those mistakes at this time of the year and they’re going to go to the back of the net. So they better be fixed or else they’re going to haunt us come playoff time.”

The Wings trail Central Division leader Austin by six points and second place Bismarck by five points with five games remaining.

When asked if Friday’s setback makes tonight’s rematch at the Odde even bigger, Langer responded, “I think they’re all big. We’re trying to win every night.”

Lee said the painful setback to the Norsemen can provide a valuable lesson for the Wings.

“I think it’s just a learning point,” Lee said. “In playoffs we’re obviously going to lose games. You can’t win every one, sadly. You just have to learn and take it and go win the next game.”

Aberdeen still has a chance to move up in the standings.

“We’re just going to keep playing hard and hopefully that happens,” Langer said. “If not, we want to be playing well come the first round.”

To see a complete box score of the game, click on the following link:

https://www.aberdeenwings.com/game-center/?game_id=2404663&season_id=11108