NORTH CHARLESTON, SC- The South Carolina Stingrays’ were able to force a game five with a win Friday night but couldn’t sustain the momentum against the Kalamazoo Wings Saturday night falling 5-1 before 1,438 fans at the North Charleston Coliseum. The Wings captured the best of seven series 4-1. The difference tonight came on power plays. The Wings scored four straight goals with the man advantage and finished an extraordinary four of five on the power play.
The two teams traded first period goals with South Carolina scoring first using their own power play half way into the first period. The goal would be their only lead of the game. Defenseman Brett Flemming was set up by forward Patrick Cullen and veteran defenseman Johann Kroll just past the ten minute mark of the period. His wrist shot eluded eventual winning goal tender Riley Gill. It was the only one of 32 shots that Gill didn’t stop.
Late period goals frequently signify a momentum change. Unfortunately for the home town crowd one came last night and off the stick of Kalamazoo’s Trent Daavettila. His rebound slipped past losing goal tender Daren Machesney at the 19:18 mark to send the teams skating off at the first intermission tied 1-1. The tying goal drew helpers form forwards Darryl Bootland and Dwight Helminen. The goal was power play strike number one.
The Wings sensing the series win turned up the pressure and struck early twice in the middle period on seven shots against Machesney who faced 32 shots overall. They used the man advantage for the second time just over a minute into the period jumping out to a 2-1 lead. Defenseman Sam Ftorek got his first of two goals on the night with Daavettila and Helminen adding their second points of the night with assists.
A third straight power play and the second Ftorek goal took whatever suspense remained out of the game and like in period one it came late in the stanza. Elgin Reid and Helminen were credited with assists at 18:05 for the 3-1 second period intermission lead.
Third period goals by forward Justin Taylor (power play) at 6:52 and a Bootland even strength strike at 15:57 emptied the building and sent the Stingrays into the off season. Kory Karlander got a point on the Taylor goal with Daavettila picking up his third point of the night and the game’s number one star with his assist on Bootland’s goal.
The win sets up the ECHL Eastern Conference Final as Florida advanced Friday night taking their series over Elmira also in five games. The Wings will have home ice advantage as the best of seven series commences April 27 at Wings Stadium. After a second game in Kalamazoo Saturday on the 28th the series will shift to Florida for three games (if necessary) starting on May 2nd.
Contact the author at Phil.Brand@prohockeynews.com
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