Kalamazoo Wings eliminate Florida Everblades

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Hometown hero Kory Karlander sealed the deal on the Kalamazoo Wings first-ever ECHL playoff series victory over the Florida Everblades on Saturday night. His empty net goal with 26-seconds left on the clock gave the his team the 5-3 victory in a frenzied and hard-fought series from both sides.
“It felt like a long time coming,” Head Coach Nick Bootland said. “For myself personally this is the first playoff series win as a coach. It means the world to me.”
“These guys have worked so hard and paid such a big price to get to where we are right now and to make this step, I’m real proud of the guys,” he said.
Forward Darryl Lloyd scored the game winning goal late in the third period, breaking the 3-3 tie and ending the storybook comeback from an oft-successful Everblades team. Florida went 4-1-0 against the K-Wings in the regular season and has made the playoffs in each of its 13 years in the league.
“Anyone could have gotten it. We weren’t going to give up,” Lloyd said about the game-winner. “That team worked their butt off to be with us all game. Our line got pretty lucky to get that puck behind the goalie and we just out-worked them.”
The Everblades continued their experiments in goal, starting rookie goaltender Ryan Zapolski in his first professional game. Zapolski replaced Mike Zacharias in net from the previous night and starter Bobby Goepfert after his call-up to the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers on Thurday.
Head Coach Greg Poss was impressed.
“I liked him. He’s a big goalie, plays the puck well, and stopped a lot of chances. We just thought he could get the job done and he really did. I was happy with that decision (to start him),” he said.
Despite standing on this head through the majority of two periods, the flood gates opened on Zapolski before the second intermission.
After having a goal waved off only a few minutes earlier, K-Wings forward Justin Taylor found revenge, scooping in a pass from defenseman Steven Tarasuk. The tie-breaking goal gave Kalamazoo a 2-1 edge and a momentum burst the Everblades had no quick answer for.
“It feels really good,” Taylor said. “Good play by Brandon Svendson and Tarasuk there. Obviously I was just the recipient of a nice play.”
Only 43-seconds after Taylor’s goal, forward Aaron Clarke netted his first point of the playoffs off a cross-ice feed from Andrew Fournier. The goal followed a flurry of scoring chances as the K-Wings hemmed the Everblades into their own zone.
“We’re pretty momentum driven,” Bootland said. “Usually it’s for the better. That’s something that’s tough to defend.”
The Everblades came out strong in the third period, scoring a much-needed quick goal. Forward Alex Hutchings caught Ryan Nie prone on his stomach after a blocked shot went awry and easily potted the goal overhead.
Florida kept the pressure on and capitalized on a Karlander delay of game penalty. A strange bounce off the end boards landed onto the stick of Mathieu Roy alone in front of the net. While Kalamazoo claimed the puck hit the netting, Roy temporarily tied the game at 3-3 with a slick backhand deke.
“We gave ourselves every chance to win,” Coach Poss said. “We lost to a better team in the end.”
Coach Bootland couldn’t pick just one hero off his roster.
“I can’t name one person,” he said. “Corey Syvret hadn’t played in 20 games and he jumps in and does a good job for us. We have Brady Leisenring who’s sick and comes in and scores the game winner. We’ve got Ryan Nie standing on his head. We have our leading scorers blocking shots. There’s so many guys.”
Syvret notched his first professional goal to open the scoring in the first period. Syvret had his first point of the season last night, assisting on Leisenring’s game winner.
Forward Trent Daavettila, who leads the league in points in the post-season, added two assists tonight. He now has seven points (two goals, five assists) through the first four games of the playoffs.
Contact the writer: Ryan.Loren@ProHockeyNews.com