MIDDLESEX TWP — It wasn’t a win, but Butler’s hockey team earned a valuable point in the PIHL Class AAA standings Monday night.

Garet Banner scored on a deflected shot with 5:54 left in regulation, tying North Allegheny at 3-3.

The two teams then battled to a stalemate over the next 11 minutes, including overtime, and the Golden Tornado skated off the ice after standing toe-to-toe with the second-best team in the league.

“Nobody was picking us to beat North Allegheny,” said Butler goalie Nick Farmerie, who stopped 26 shots. “We are more than happy to come out of here with a tie.”

Prior to the game, Butler was tied with Pine-Richland and Canon-McMillan for the seventh of eight playoff spots with 13 points. The Rams and Big Macs did not play Monday and Butler (6-8-2) now has sole possession of seventh place with 14 points with four games left.

“We told our guys that for us, the playoffs have already started,” said Butler coach Cory Sakolsky. “They must refuse to lose.

“This was only the second or third game all season that we’ve had our full team,” he added. “When we’re healthy, we can go as far as we want to go. We don’t want to just make the playoffs, we want to make as deep a run as we can.”

The Tigers (11-4-2) had the better of the play in overtime, managing five shots on net to Butler’s two. But Farmerie was up to the challenge each time. In one sequence during the five extra minutes, he ended up on his stomach after stopping a rush and shot from North Allegheny’s Steven Dietz.

“He stood on his head for us tonight,” said Sakolsky. “He made key saves for us tonight at key times.”

Farmerie saved his best for last. In regulation, he stopped 21 of 24 shots. Overtime did not phase him.

“I just try to tune all of that out,” he said. “I focus on playing one game, one shot at a time and don’t look at the scoreboard much.”

The Tornado were fast out of the gate, tallying seven shots on goal in the first four minutes of the game. One of them, a wrist shot from Ronan Miller, sailed past Tiger goalie Ryan Heil for a 1-0 lead just 1:27 into the game.

NA answered with a pair of goals less than three minutes apart. Matt Morrison scored at the 12:05 mark and Erik Chidester with 9:17 left.

Butler’s special teams then tied the game when Ben Rodgers scored at 6:11 with four seconds left on a Tornado power play in the first period.

Butler successfully killed two penalties in the second period, but came up short in the third. Farmerie stopped a slap shot in the first minute of a power play for the Tigers. John Parks gained control of the rebound, however, and put NA up 3-2 with 10:12 left in the game.

“Special teams are big, not just the penalty killing, but you also want to score on the power play,” said Sakolsky. “We spend a lot of time on it, but you can’t be perfect all the time.”

Banner’s game-tying goal came just over four minutes later when a shot from Connor Bachman glanced off his stick.

Heil had 24 saves for the Tigers.

Butler’s current playoff standing could be wiped away as soon as Thursday when the Tornado face Pine-Richland.

“They (Rams) are in the bottom half of the standings, just like we are,” said Sakolsky. “It’s a very big game.”

North Allegheny coach Mike Bagnato was unavailable for comment.