ESTERO, FL – The Florida Everblades fell prey to the hot South Carolina Stingrays on Friday April 24th at Germain Arena. The Stingrays battled back ferociously from a two-games-to-zero deficit in their first round series against the Charlotte Checkers and have been on a roll with four straight victories.
The first game of round two pit two very similar teams against each other. Everyone knew this would be a super-charged and very tight series and the first game of the series was proof of that.
The first started our looking pretty even and was very calm. There were no exciting plays or penalties, just back-and-forth movement across the ice with no one in control. Although Florida out shot the Stingrays 13 to eight, it was the Stingrays that found the back of the net first.
South Carolina waited for their opportunity and jumped on it when the Blades offered it to them. With less than a minute left in the first, Matt Scherer scored his fifth goal of the playoffs. Assists were earned by Spencer Carbery and Nikita Kashirsky at 19:11.
The second started with Florida giving South Carolina a golden opportunity with over a minute on a five-on-three power play. However, the Stingrays were unable to capitalize on this chance.
During the power play ‘Blades goalie David Leggio was struck by a puck just under the area protected by his mask. The crowd was silenced as he went down on the ice. This could have been very critical for the ‘Blades as Leggio’s netminding partner, Anton Khudobin, has not returned to the team. Khudobin has been on a call-up to the Houston Aeros of the AHL since February. The Aeros are still in the playoff hunt and Khudobin will not return to Florida until their run is over due to the fact he is starting in goal due to injuries on that club.
Leggio returned to play after shaking off the injury and played excellent in net the rest of the game, with everyone breathing a sign of relief. Leggio’s emergency backup is Adrian Lemay, a young player with potential, but also one with no professional experience.
The ‘Blades were very slow and sluggish the second allowing South Carolina to dictate the pace of the play. Only the stellar performance of the shook-up Leggio kept the ‘Blades in the game and South Carolina out of Florida’s net.
The third started with the ‘Blades having more than a minute of five-on-three hockey. After the first penalty expired, Ernie Hartlieb decided to shot the puck on net and was able to score his first goal of the playoffs getting the score tied at one at 1:20 of the third period. The goal was assisted by Peter Metcalf and Mark Lee.
The ‘Blades picked up some momentum and looked more focused in the third period. There was one instance of a questionable decision which led to a fight. Florida was in the offensive zone with a good scoring opportunity when Jonathan Paiement decided to tussle with South Carolina’s Carbery with just over eleven minutes gone in the period. No one knows, but could this have changed the outcome of the game had the Everblades used the opportunity to score instead of fight?
At the end of three periods of regulation the scored was tied at one and went into overtime. This was Florida’s third overtime game of the playoffs, they won one of the game, and for South Carolina it was their first.
The overtime period was fast-paced with both teams having good scoring opportunities. South Carolina then took over and began charging the ‘Blades net.
At 8:34 of the period Trent Campbell and Jeff Corey worked the puck out from behind the net, allowing Zach Takir to finish by scoring the game winner.
With the loss Leggio fell to 4-2 in the playoffs while South Carolina’s Jonathan Boutin won his fifth straight game.
The game was not one of Florida’s best games. They continued to fall behind and then had to try and play catch-up. If they want to advance they will need to score first and stop taking so many unnecessary penalties. They also need to focus more and speed up their play if they want to get past the hungry Stingrays.
Contact the author at: sharon.weatherhead@prohockeynews.com
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