NORTH CHARLESTON, – In a game that was eerily similar to Game 2 of their playoff series the South Carolina Stingrays and Florida EverBlades reversed roles in Game 3 with the Rays’ winning by an identical 4-3 score.
South Carolina jumped out to a 4-1 lead and then held on, surviving a power play goal and a late goal scored with the EverBlades goalie pulled for the extra attacker, to record the win.
Even though the score was close it took the EverBlades until the last ten minutes of the game to hit their stride. The Stingrays dominated period one scoring two goals and limiting the visitors to only six shots. Keith Johnson and Nikita Kashirsky scored first period goals within 1:06 of each other to excite the crowd of 2,625 at the North Charleston Coliseum.
Johnson’s goal came on the power play at 12:10 off a rebound from a shot by defenseman Johann Kroll from the point. Sasha Pokoluk the other player on the point got the second assist. Stingrays’ rookie Kashirsky hammered home goal number two at 13:16 when he got behind the EverBlades defense and Brad Farynuk threaded a pass from deep in his own zone to the Russian at the Blades’ blue line. Losing goaltender David Leggio made a great initial save but the puck was picked up again by Kashirsky and he skated back in front of the net and beat Leggio with a hard low shot. Zach Tarkir was also credited with an assist on the goal. The Stingrays skated off with the 2-0 lead at the first intermission.
The hallways underneath the North Charleston Coliseum reverberated with the sound level and torrent of advice that Florida coach Malcolm Cameron gave his skaters between periods. It seemed to work as the EverBlades crept within a goal on a very physical play at the 9:37 mark of the second period.
The Blades scored on a power play when center Ross Carlson was allowed to skate in from the corner without being checked and in heavy traffic simply overpowered James Reimer in goal for South Carolina for the score. Yannick Tifu and Andrew Sweetland assisted on the visitor’s first goal of the game.
The home team countered with a power play goal of their own at the 13:42 mark. A very hard check by Brad Herauf at center ice that knocked Nate Kiser out of the game was ruled as interference and less than a minute later Tarkir blasted a shot from the point that changed directions on Leggio when it hit a Florida player’s stick in front of the net. Pierre-Luc O’Brien and Trent Campbell picked up the helpers on this goal. Period two ended without additional scoring and 3-1 in favor of the Stingrays.
Jeff Corey scored what turned out to be the game-winner for South Carolina on an absolutely awesome effort at 7:02 of the third period. Passes from Patrick Weller and Spencer Carbery set Corey up for an almost end-to-end rush through the five Blades’ skaters on the ice. After stick handling through the skaters he went to his backhand after a forehand fake and lifted the puck over a sprawling Leggio.
The ‘Rays’ 4-1 lead evaporated at 12:23 of the last period when Florida got their second power play goal on five opportunities. The ‘Rays survived the first half of a five-on-three shorthanded situation. However, with South Carolina down one man the powerful EverBlades’ power play cashed in when Mathieu Roy scored again in very heavy traffic rebounding a shot by Peter Metcalf past Reimer. The other assist went to Carlson. Interestingly, in the middle of the Florida power play, Trent Campbell on the penalty kill for South Carolina stole the puck, skated in on Leggio, was fouled from behind, and was awarded a penalty shot but failed to connect.
The Blades were not finished as they broke through again by pulling Leggio and with the extra attacker on the ice Carlson got his second goal of the game with thirty two seconds left in the period. Milan Gajic and Jonathan Paiement got the assists on this goal however, the Stingrays were able to control the puck for the balance of the game for the 4-3 win.
The win came on Reimer’s first start in goal in the second round of the playoffs after he lost the second game in round one against Charlotte. Reimer stopped 26 of the 29 shots he faced while Leggio stopped 16 of 20 South Carolina shots on goal.
There was a bit of a scrum as the two teams left the ice at game’s end and South Carolina’s Carbery ended up with ten minute unsportsmanlike conduct penalty out of the fracas. It appears things are heating up with Game 4 scheduled for the North Charleston Coliseum Saturday night with a 7:05 face off.
Notes: South Carolina’s leading scorer Travis Morin did not dress for the game as he has a wrist injury. His return date is not definite. Kiser did not return to the ice after he was injured on the Herauf check. The nature and extent of his injury is being evaluated. EverBlades right winger Gajic, who fell heavily into the boards in the second period, left the ice but came back for the last period and got an assist on the last Blades’ goal. He appeared to be favoring one knee on his last shift of the evening.
Contact the author at Phil.Brand@prohockeynews.com
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