Greely High School’s Ellie Schad scored the game-tying goal with 18 seconds left in regulation and the Rangers and Leavitt/Edward Little/Poland skated to a 2-2 draw Saturday at the Norway Savings Bank Arena. Greely erased a two-goal deficit to come away with a point.

“It took a solid game to score,” Greely coach Nate Guerin said. “Their goalie is unbelievable and they do a great job of protecting her. They really clog up the middle of the ice and it was hard to get pucks through. We knew it was going to be a greasy play like that and we’re thankful we got out of their with a point.”

The Rangers (10-2-1) pulled goalie Nica Todd with less than a minute remaining looking for the equalizer. With the extra skater and heavy traffic in front of the net, Schad was able to collect a loose puck in front of the net and slip it past Red Hornets goaltender Savannah Shaw to send the game to overtime.

“It’s difficult because I know we’re capable of playing so much better and I thought we did at points this game and then we seemed to go downhill,” Red Hornets coach Shon Collins said.

The extra session featured just three total shots, all coming from Greely. The Rangers held a 30-9 edge in shots, including a 16-2 advantage in the third period and overtime.

“We did feel like we carried play for good chunks of the game,” Guerin said. “We pinned them in their own zone, threw pucks at the net. You have to hope for a bounce like we got on the first one or some kind of traffic play — a tip or a rebound like we got on the second one.”

Despite being limited to three first-period shots, the Red Hornets (10-2-1) made the most of their opportunities. Mariah Vaillancourt got behind the defense and scored on a breakaway from the blue line. She tapped a pass by Ally MacKenzie at center ice and chased down the loose puck past two Greely defenders. With just the goalie to beat, Vaillancourt faked right before backhanded a shot far post past Todd.

Entering Saturday’s game, the Red Hornets hadn’t scored more than a goal in each of their past three contests. In two of those games one goal had been enough. One goal wasn’t going to be enough against Greely and Vaillancourt gave the Red Hornets a cushion with her second of the game with 10:10 left in the second period.

The Red Hornets’ lead didn’t hold up as the Rangers scored the game’s final two goals. They trimmed the deficit in half with 5:58 left in the second when Danita Storey through a shot on net from behind the net that hit off Shaw’s skates and into the net.

“We knew it was going to be competitive and we knew it was going to be close,” Guerin said. “It’s always going to be a close physical game with Leavitt. That’s how it’s been for the past five years since I’ve been coaching. Just two really strong teams that really want to win.”

Shaw saved the Red Hornets on several occasions throughout the game and was the team’s best penalty killer. The Red Hornets were whistled for five penalties and skated on the wrong end of a 5-on-3 for 19 seconds in the first period. Shaw stopped seven shots on Greely’s lone power play of the third period with the Red Hornets clinging to a 2-1 lead.

She finished with a season-high 28 saves and helped the Red Hornets kill off all five penalties.

“She really stepped up and came up big in a lot of ways,” Collins said. “She had a few flurries that she was just so solid on. I’m sure that probably got into their psyche a little bit.”

The Red Hornets didn’t have any luck with their power play either, finishing 0-for-5.

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