For the Blazers, this one hurt, maybe even more than their six-game losing streak that ended one night earlier.
Sunday at the Ford Center, Amarillo beat the Blazers 4-3 on an Austin Sutter goal with 11.3 seconds left in the third period, after the Blazers had come back to lead after trailing 2-0.
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"That was a heartbreaker,” Blazers coach Doug Sauter said. "It was a cardinal sin by (Gio) Flamminio to throw the puck backwards with 20 seconds left. I talked to him before the second period about keeping the puck in front of him. Peter (Arvanitis, assistant coach) talked to him and then I re-said it. So, three times they were told to keep the puck in front of them, and Flamminio throws it backwards.”
Amarillo won moments later, and more bad Blazers news came when they reached their locker room: Youngstown had won, to take a two-point lead over the Blazers in their battle for the fourth seed in the CHL North playoffs. The Blazers have four games to play, one more than Youngstown.
The game's first star, and the scorer of Amarillo's first two goals, was Joey Bastien, who was cut in the Blazers' preseason camp a year ago.
"To win here is maybe a little more special feeling,” Bastien said. "Not that there's anything to prove, but it's nice to beat some of your friends. I still have a lot of friends (on) the Blazers team.
"It was just a numbers thing, I think. They had some young guys they wanted to keep around, so I was odd man out.”
Bastien scored on a pair of five-on-three power-play goals in the first period, 3:33 into the period and with just 37.2 seconds left. His pass also set up Amarillo's game-tying goal 9:57 into the final period.
The Blazers scored three goals in the second period, their first three-goal period in nine games, since March 2.
Down 2-0 after one period, the Blazers went ahead 3-2 on goals by Peter Robertson, Marty Standish and Michel Beausoleil, his first goal in eight games.
Blazers forward Garrett Prosofsky had assists on two of the goals, but he was sidelined by injury three minutes into the third period.
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Blazers goaltender Sebastien Centomo and Mike Burgoyne, right, combine to deflect a shot on goal during the second period of Sunday's game against Amarillo. BY JOHN CLANTON, THE OKLAHOMAN
Amarillo 4, Blazers 3
•Story line: Amarillo won on a goal by Austin Sutter with 11.3 seconds left.
•First star: Amarillo's Joey Bastien: Two goals, one assist.
•Second star: Blazers' Garrett Prosofsky: Two assists.
•Third star: Blazers' Michel Beausoleil: Goal and assist.
•Key stat: Amarillo remains the only CHL team with a perfect record (15-0-0) when leading after one period.
•Turning point of game: Prosofsky left with an injury three minutes into the third period.
By Bob Hersom
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