NORTH CHARLESTON, SC-The South Carolina Stingrays 32-21-4 (68 points) delighted a huge crowd of 10,304 at their annual pack the house night with a 3-2 win over the team’s most bitter rival the Florida EverBlades 30-25-4 (64 points) on Saturday night. The two teams returned to the ice Sunday in a matinee contest. On Sunday South Carolina stunned the ‘Blades by coming back from a 0-3 first period deficit scoring twice in the second period, tying the game in the third stanza and scoring just over a minute into overtime for a 4-3 win.
Sunday’s 4-3 win before 3,070 saw the eventual winning goal tender Shane Owen concede three goals on 13 shots in the first period as the ‘Blades swarmed the offensive zone all period long. Florida got goals from Alex Hutchings, Matt Becca and Bobby Raymond. The Raymond goal coming late in the period at 18:38 appeared to give Florida an insurmountable 3-0 lead. The first two Florida goals came on power plays.
After the rocky start , ‘Rays’ coach Cail MacLean took a decidedly low key approach as opposed to hammering his squad between periods. Rather than launching into a tirade he simply reminded his team of the effort needed in the next two periods.
His patience paid off as the locals who are now unbeaten in four straight games answered with two goals in the second period. First the Stingrays cashed in on a power play opportunity at 10:34 of the second period when Matt Scherer poked a rebound off a shot from defenseman Dustin Stevenson past losing goal tender Adam Avramenko to start the comeback. Pierre-Luc O’Brien got the secondary assist on a momentum changing strike.
Buoyed by the Scherer’s 14th goal of the season defenseman Josh Godfrey who leads ECHL defensemen in goals scored got his first of two goals on the night at the 15:52 mark. Godfrey’s 14th goal of the season came off an end to end up ice rush and a low wrist shot past the Florida goalie. ‘Rays’ net minder tender Shane Owen drew the only assist on this crowd pleaser. Meanwhile the ‘Rays had tightened up their defense limiting Florida to no goals and just six shots on goal while peppering Avramenko with twice that number.
Godfrey registered his second of the night and 15th of the season just over halfway into period three. He was setup by Trent Campbell who fed him a perfect pass as he cruised into the slot from the blue line and blasted the puck past Avramenko. Matt Scherer also picked up a helper on the game tying goal.
Campbell’s 13th of the year at 1:07 of overtime gave the Stingrays the improbable comeback win as he scored while the ‘Rays were short handed. Tommy Goebel was off for hooking and things looked bleak but a turnover by the Florida defense allowed Campbell to grab the puck near the blue line skate in and bury the puck on the losing goaltender’s blocker side a foot or so off the ice.
In Saturday’s matchup before a sellout crowd, Florida also skated out to a first period lead when Becca scored a late goal at 17:58 into the game. He managed to get a relatively soft shot past net minder Owen glove side from the right side circle.
Period two however was all South Carolina. Forward Luke Popko registered his third goal of the season early in the stanza. The goal came at 2:14 as the puck found space between the Florida goalie Avramenko’s pads and brought the big crowd to life. Forward Jordan Pietrus struck next with his first of two goals in the game at 10:43. One of Sunday’s heroes Godfrey set him up with a picture book pass. Rob Ricci earned the other assist.
Florida answered early on in period three to forge a 2-2 tie. Ian McDonald combined with forwards Evgeny Timkin and Alex Hutchings to set up a dramatic finish. It came with only two minutes and four seconds left in regulation time as Pietrus got only his fourth goal of the year, second of the contest game and the 3-2 game winner at 17:56 to a roar of approval from the huge crowd.
Owens stopped 16 of 18 shots in recording the win Saturday while South Carolina launched 39 shots at losing goal tender Avramenko. The Ray’s have now climbed into fourth place overall n the Eastern Conference of the ECHL and are within five points of first place in the South Division.
<:u1:p>Contact the author at Phil.Brand@prohockeynews.com
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