Although a crowd of 3,686 provided for a great atmosphere at First Arena on Tuesday night, the Elmira Jackals were unable to hold onto third period leads of 2-0 and 3-2 as they fell in a shootout to the South Carolina Stingrays 4-3.

South Carolina defenseman Zach Tarkir scored with 11.5 seconds left to send the game to overtime with goaltender Todd Ford pulled and Jackals defenseman Brennan Turner in the box.

Olivier Proulx gave the Jackals the 1-0 lead immediately after a Jackals power play ended at 13:26 of the first period. Ben Wright's blue line drive was blocked, and eventually wound up on the stick of Proulx who fired the puck glove side past Ford for the early advantage.

After a scoreless second period, Ben Wright scored his second goal of the season on the power play 55 seconds into the third period, taking a beautiful feed in the left circle from Justin Donati, who was stationed behind the goal line, and one timing it home for the 2-0 lead.

After a pair of Spencer Carbury goals, Maxime Gratchev gave the Jackals the lead once more. The rookie took the puck up the left wing boards, worked his way around multiple Stingrays defensemen, skated in on Ford, and backhanded the puck top shelf for the 3-2 lead at 12:22 of the third.

The Jackals were just seconds away from pulling out the victory, but the Tarkir goal tied the game at three and sent it to overtime. The game went to a shootout, where South Carolina's Nikita Kashirski and Rob Ricci sealed the game with a pair of goals. The Jackals failed to notch a goal in the shootout.

Michael-Lee Teslak made 30 saves on 33 Stingrays shots. Ford stopped 31 of 34 Jackals attempts.

Elmira heads to Charlotte, N.C. and Duluth, Ga. this weekend for games with the Charlotte Checkers and the Gwinnett Gladiators. The Jackals battle with the Checkers Friday and Sunday, with a game at Gwinnett sandwiched in on Saturday.

The Elmira Jackals: Ten Years in the Twin Tiers

UPCOMING FIRST ARENA EVENTS

JACKALS HOCKEY

Jackals vs. Wheeling

Friday, November 20, Saturday, November 21

7:35 p.m.

KENNY ROGERS CHRISTMAS & HITS TOUR

Saturday, December 12th, 2009

8 p.m.

For tickets to all First Arena events, visit the First Arena Box Office, call (607) 734-7825, or log onto Ticketmaster.com.