Alex Eisen/MDN Minotauros forward Joseph Harguindeguy (left) shrugs off a hit from Aberdeen Wings forward Mack Byers (right) Tuesday evening at Maysa Arena in Minot.

Thrilling end-to-end action in front of electric crowds has been the norm for when the Minot Minotauros and Aberdeen Wings have squared off over the years.

The two Central Division foes — who have faced each other in the last three NAHL postseasons — met again on Tuesday evening under unusual circumstances.

While a weekday make-up game didn’t provide a large Maysa Arena crowd, the intensity on the ice still brought out a playoff-type atmosphere.

The Minotauros (19-11-5) pushed the game into overtime with a last-second goal, but the Wings (24-5-6) earned the second point available with a shootout win.

Aberdeen took the shootout 1-0 for a 4-3 victory in Minot.

“These are always hard-fought, emotional battles,” Minotauros head coach Marty Murray said. “This is a make-up game from October from that big snowstorm. We had to fit it in somewhere, and tonight was just another really good hockey game.”

The Wings passed their way to a clinical opening goal at 3:46 into the contest. With his team-leading 24th assist, Jakob Breault setup Huston Karpman for a simple finish around Minotauros goaltender AJ Ruskowski.

From the team leader in assists to the Wings’ top goal scorer, Nathan Vertes put Aberdeen up 2-0 later in the period with a backdoor tap-in for his 16th goal of the season.

Minot had two decent scoring chances in the first period. Dan Russell clipped the post early on, and then Cade Stibbe found himself all alone in front but was turned aside by Wings goalie Henry Welsch.

Shots on goal were even at 10-10 after the first 20 minutes.

Minot turned the scoreline around with two second-period goals.

Defenseman Will Crull shot from in front of his bench and got lucky with traffic in front to score the Minotauros’ first goal. The puck even grazed off Welsch before finding the back of the net.

“I didn’t even know it went in,” Crull said when describing the goal for the crowd at Maysa Arena during a second-intermission interview.

The Minotauros’ second goal was executed better with more intent and was rather timely.

With 15 seconds left in the period, Dan Russell stole the puck in the neutral zone to create a 2-on-1 breakaway. Unselfishly, Russell slid the puck over to Kyler Kleven for a one-time rocket into the top corner, 2-2.

Minot’s defense held the Wings to only four shots on goal in the second period.

The Minotauros were without assistant coach Shane Wagner for the third period. Jack Westlund was sent to the locker room early as well with a game misconduct penalty for abuse of the officials.

Calls weren’t going the Minotauros’ way, and adamant arguing got them sent away.

The small but mighty crowd at Maysa Arena made sure to let the officials hear their complaints.

Nonetheless, the score remained tied at 2-2. That was until Connor Beatty deked around a defender and lifted the puck over Ruskowski. A dazzling individual effort looked to be a dagger for the Minotauros.

Crull had other ideas. The defender got lucky once again, tying the game with 0.6 seconds on the clock.

“You are in desperation mode,” Murray said. “Kleven did a great job of winning the puck back after the Wings won the faceoff. Crull, with great poise, didn’t try to hammer a slapshot or anything. He’s a smart player and just tried to get it to the net. A seeing-eye shot and a huge one for us.”

Overtime was hectic. Chances went begging at both ends. But, no goals meant a shootout.

Wings’ Riley Murphy scored the only goal in the skills contest in the third round. Isak Dahlin, Kleven and Ville Immonen failed to convert for the Minotauros.

“If you take a step back, I thought it was a great game between two good teams,” Murray said. “I liked our game for the most part. We started slow, got down two, but in the second period we really played the brand of hockey we want to play. The third period was back-and-forth with both goalies making great saves. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the extra point, which I thought we deserved.”

The Minotauros are off to Minnesota next to face the Austin Bruins in a pair of away games across Friday and Saturday. Puck drop at 7:05 p.m. for both games.

Alex Eisen covers Minot State athletics, the Minot Minotauros and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @AEisen13.