NORTH CHARLESTON, SC —The second game of the South Carolina Stingrays and Cincinnati Cyclones American Conference championship series went to South Carolina 3-1 before a boisterous Monday evening crowd of 2,756 at the North Charleston Coliseum.
The Stingrays out-shot the Cyclones 44-19 and played smothering team defense after a first period lapse gave Cincinnati an early first period 1-0 lead. The ‘Rays’ collective defensive effort limited the Cyclones to only nine shots over the last forty minutes of the game.
Goaltender Jonathan Boutin registered his ninth playoff victory and while not tested often he was tested in several flurries late in the game when the ‘Rays were holding onto a one goal lead. His defensemen and forwards were particularly good in clearing the puck out of danger whenever it appeared a Cyclone scoring treat was imminent on a rebound.
Cincinnati took its first lead of the series 3:55 into the game when a Stingrays defenseman tried an ill-advised cross-ice pass in the neutral zone that ended up on the stick of defenseman Matt Mcdonald. He skated in and buried a high wrist shot past Boutin’s glove. Mcdonald’s shot came from the right circle between the face off spot and the goal side hash mark. Assists on the score went to Dustin Sproat and Gerald Miller both of whom supplied the forechecking pressure that forced the turnover.
Michael Dubuc tied the game for South Carolina with his third goal in the series at 9:06 of the period. Following up on his two goal performance in Game 1, he had four quality shots tonight; including one of his patented one-timers from the slot past losing goaltender Loic Lacasse. Nikita Kashirsky made a beautiful centering pass from a scrum in the corner finding Dubuc in the slot. Spencer Carbery also got an assist for his work along the boards on the play.
Period two may have been the best period of the game for South Carolina as they took the lead 2-1 on a semi breakaway when Maxime Lacroix got a pass that bounced off the boards from Brad Farynuk past a Cincinnati defenseman. Lacroix picked it up and had an uncontested slap shot from the right side face off circle that beat Lacasse for the eventual game-winner. Despite the loss Lacasse played an excellent game making a number of point blank saves to keep his team in the contest especially, in light of the wide variance between the teams in shots on goal.
Otherwise, despite heavy forechecking by the Cyclones the ‘Rays’ limited the visitors to just three shots in the second period while launching 13 of their own. In the process they killed off two second period penalties during which the Cyclones managed just one shot. The Cyclones were zero for three on power play opportunities while the home team was unable to score during their only power play on the evening.
The third period saw Boutin and Lacasse tested several times but both turned aside all of the shots they faced. Finally, forward Trent Campbell, who was very strong along the boards during the game, converted passes from his defensemen Patrick Weller and Johann Kroll before skating around a defender to ice the game with an empty net goal at 19:51.
South Carolina was especially tough in the last three minutes of the game with strong forechecking and defense which kept Cyclones Coach Chuck Weber from pulling Lacasse for the extra attacker until the last 41 seconds of the game.
The series now heads to Cincinnati for Game 3 on Wednesday night with a 7:30 PM face off at the U.S. Bank Arena.
Notes: Fans back in Granby Quebec must have thought it was Granby night as three of their native sons played major roles in the game. Both goaltenders hail from Granby as does ‘Rays’ forward Michael Dubuc. The winner of this series will pick up the E.A. “Bud” Gingher Memorial Trophy awarded to the team that wins the American Conference Championship. Tonight’s referee Joe Sullivan, is one of two first year full-time referees assigned to the two ECHL Conference Championship series. Gino Binda and Sullivan previously worked in the United States Hockey League and last year worked part-time in the ECHL. They are former members of USA Hockey’s National Officials Development Program. Lastly, defenseman Nate Kiser returned to the lineup after recuperation from an injury as the wife of Sasha Pokulok went into labor and Pokulok spent the day with his spouse at the hospital. The Pokulok’s are expecting their first child.
Contact the author at Phil.Brand@prohockeynews.com
Catch all the playoffs at Intotheboards.net
You must be logged in to post a comment.