For the second straight season, the Aberdeen Wings are headed for a photo finish to the regular season.

The local squad is tied for third in the North American Hockey League Central Division standings. The Wings and Austin are both sitting at 61 points, with St. Cloud right behind at 59. Only two of those three teams will make the upcoming playoffs.

Aberdeen hosts Austin for two games this weekend before concluding the regular season at North Iowa next weekend.

“To me, we have to go after this thing like we have to win the last four games of the season,” said Wings coach Scott Langer. “That’s where we need to be. One reason is, because if you’re going to be a playoff team, you better be playing good hockey when you enter the first round, or else it’s going to be like last year where we were three and out.”

Last season, the Wings were also involved in a multi-team scramble on the final week of the regular season, before finishing with a flurry to obtain home-ice advantage only to get swept in the opening round of the playoffs.

Aberdeen has had a steady season, outside of a rough stretch earlier this season that has put the squad in its current position in the standings.

“We had that one part of our season there that really threw us off the tracks,” Langer said. “We just couldn’t find a way to win a game for a stretch, so it’s obviously put us in a position in the here and now that we have to win. If we’re going to be a playoff-bound hockey team, we have to win. The good thing is we have these two at home. Hopefully, this week prepares them to have success on the weekend.”

On one hand, Aberdeen hasn’t had prolonged losing streaks. On the other hand, the Wings haven’t had long winning streaks. The team is about .500 and has given up just one more goal than it has scored this season.

“We haven’t been able to get on a run. We’ve done a pretty decent job bouncing back after losses, which I think is important. It’s been an interesting year, from my side as well,” Langer said. “Every year you’re not going to have a dynasty team. This team is a good group of guys that care, we just haven’t been able to put it … consistently together like you really need to.”

Langer, who guided the Wings to the Robertson Cup title in 2019, and is the winningest coach in NAHL history, is not accustomed to being in the middle of the pack at this time of the year.

“Our division is really good, really tight, good teams. You have to play consistent hockey in order to be in the top half of the standings,” Langer said. “For me, it’s a little different. I’m used to being up higher in the standings and controlling our own fate, and now it’s way different.”

The Wings have nearly identical home and away records. If Aberdeen gets into the playoffs, it will not own home-ice advantage as Minot and Bismarck have wrapped up the top two spots in the standings.

“There’s no glaring difference between playing at home and playing on the road this year. You want to win more at home, obviously. It’s important to win in front of your fans, in front of your ownership group, and all that stuff,” Langer said. “Home-ice advantage is great, you don’t have to travel. If we’re able to win games and get in, it can’t matter where you’re playing. You win one of those games, you can swing the series.”

While fans will likely be watching the scoreboard these next four games, Langer said the key for his team is to focus on the task at hand and not be concerned about what happens with the other teams.

“We just have to worry about our own stuff,” Langer said. “If we can take care of our own business, then we don’t have to hope people do us favors.”

The Wings are coming off what Langer called a “really, really uncharacteristic weekend last weekend” in which the squad surrendered 15 goals in two losses to Bismarck.

Langer said the Central Division features a lot of even squads and that anything can happen whenever teams step onto the ice.

“We can beat anybody in the division, that’s for sure. We can,” Langer said. “That’s just one thing about our division is that it’s always so tight, because everybody can beat everybody. There’s a lot of parity.”

For now, the only thing that matters for the Wings is to rebound from last weekend and play up to their potential.

“I just think we can’t look past the first period of Friday night. We’ve just got to focus on how well we can come out and play in the first 20 minutes and just keep building on it,” Langer said. “Hopefully, we can get out ahead and build some confidence. Last weekend was a bunch of hesitation from our guys, and I want that hesitation to go away, and just play the game that they know and they love.”