The New Mexico Scorpions’ playoff hopes aren’t dead, but they are in critical condition.

Torren Delforte’s goal with 8:29 left was the game-winner as New Mexico gained a hard-earned 3-1 victory over the Arizona Sundogs on Saturday in a key Central Hockey League game.

The Scorpions victory left them six points behind Corpus Christi in the race for the last playoff spot in the Southern Conference. The Ice Bats defeated Rio Grande Valley 4-1 on Saturday to pull two points ahead of Arizona.

If Corpus Christi gains two more points in any fashion – including one victory or two one-point losses in overtime – New Mexico would have to win all of its games to force a tie in total points. Any tie is broken by most total victories; Corpus Christi has 27 victories; one more than Arizona and two more than the Scorpions.

New Mexico has four games left – at home against Tulsa on Sunday at 3:15 p.m., at Amarillo on Thursday and home games with Arizona on Friday and Saturday. The defending league champion Sundogs have just the two games at New Mexico left.

Corpus Christi has a home game with Laredo on Monday before finishing with road games at Rio Grande Valley and Shreveport next weekend.

The bottom line: New Mexico needs to win its next two games and hope Corpus Christi loses Monday to make the final weekend count.

Craig Robertson’s shorthanded goal with 4:16 left in the second period gave New Mexico a 1-0 lead. The goal came 14 seconds short of New Mexico killing off the penalty.

Andrew Smale took a rebound off the sideboards and fed Robertson, who beat Arizona goalie Marco Emond for the first time in 28 shots by New Mexico

Unfortunately for the Scorpions, Ross McCain was whistled for slashing 12 seconds later, and the defending league champions were able to capitalize.  Chris Bartolone won a battle in front of the net to even the game on a power play goal with 3:07 left in the period, with the assists going Jon Landry and Joel Irving.

Aaron Macinnis' empty-net goal with 35.6 seconds left completed the scoring.

New Mexico had a 28-13 edge in shots after the first 40 minutes, but could not convert on six power play opportunities against Emond, including a two-man advantage for 1:26 at the start of the second period.

Arizona finished 1-for-6 on the power play in the playoff-type atmosphere that featured several strong checks into the boards from both teams and fans beating on “thundersticks” that were given away as part of a game promotion. New Mexico ended up 0-for-7 on the power play.

Ticket information is available at www.ScorpionsHockey.com. Complete statistics and standings can be found at www.CentralHockeyLeague.com.

Story to be updated with quotes.