Lynx have favorable road ahead

The win was in hand. The Augusta Lynx just needed to hold on for 20 more seconds.

They won control of the puck on a faceoff in their own end with a one-goal lead against the Greenville Grrrowl.

But they turned the puck over in their own end with 3.8 seconds left in the third period, and Kenny Smith made them pay for it with a point shot that cut through heavy traffic to send it to overtime, where the Grrrowl won 3-2.

Instead of trailing Greenville by eight points for the final spot in the American Conference playoff race, Augusta found itself down 11 after its second consecutive overtime loss to the Grrrowl.

"We had three guys not do what they were supposed to do in the last 20 seconds (Saturday)," said Lynx coach Stan Drulia, whose team has given up 15 goals in the final minute of a period this year.

This weekend, the Lynx (17-24-7, 41 points) will try to climb the American Conference standings with home games against Greenville and the Pee Dee Pride. Augusta will try tonight to beat the Grrrowl (25-18-4, 54 points through Wednesday) for the first time this season, but it's no longer Greenville that holds the final playoff spot. A four-game win streak allowed the Grrrowl to jump past Gwinnett (23-15-7, 53 points) and Mississippi (24-16-4, 52 points), while the Lynx still remain 11 points out.

"We're playing for our playoff lives right now," forward Matt Dzieduszycki said. "So every game we go into is just like a Game 7 playoff game for us. We can't afford to lose any more games, and we have to - at least - get a point in every game here on out."

The Pride (23-22-3, 49 points through Wednesday) are the only team between the Lynx and eighth-place Mississippi in the standings - and they will be in town Saturday going for their sixth win in a row against Augusta.

Three factors have combined to make the Lynx's postseason destiny largely up to them:

 •  The ECHL changed the playoff format in the American Conference to include the two division winners as the top two seeds, with the next six teams overall in the conference taking the rest of the spots.

 •  The Lynx only play American Conference foes this year, meaning every game can have a four-point effect in the standings.

Last season, 11 of Augusta's final 17 games came against non-conference opponents, doing little to help Augusta's playoff hopes. This year, 22 of the Lynx's final 24 games are against teams above them in the conference standings. Eleven are against the four teams directly above them - Greenville, Gwinnett, Mississippi and Pee Dee.

 •  The Lynx will have home-ice advantage in 14 of their remaining games. When the Lynx started 2-7-2 at home, there appeared to be little advantage to playing at Augusta-Richmond County Civic Center, but since Christmas, the Lynx are 6-3-2 at home.

A win against Greenville would be Augusta's third home win in a row and would mark the first time the Lynx have won back-to-back games since Jan. 8-9.

"They're a good team, but we feel if we play good, that we can win," defenseman Sean Connolly said. "It's really in our hands, we feel."

Just like their playoff hopes.

Reach Kristy Shonka at (706) 823-3216 or kristy.shonka@augustachronicle.com.