JOHNS ISLAND , S.C. – The ECHL Eastern Division’s Wheeling Nailers and South Carolina Stingrays battled into overtime in the opening game of their playoff series with the Nailers winning 4-3. The winning goal came on a long clearing shot that somehow eluded losing goaltender Todd Ford. Forward Andrew Orpik fired a long range shot from behind his own blue line 5:50 into overtime that took an unusual bounce past Ford into the net. Kyle Bushee got the lone assist on the game winner. In addition to the odd long range goal, this loss can also be attributed to the Nailers’ penalty killing, as they held the Stingrays scoreless on seven power play opportunities. Meanwhile the Nailers went one for four with the man advantage. Wheeling goaltender Peter Delmas stopped 30 of 33 shots and was especially good when the ‘Rays had the man advantage. The lack of an effective power play has plagued the ‘Rays all season. Tonight the addition of several players back from the American Hockey League (Dylan Yeo, Brock McBride, Johan Kroll and David de Kastrozza) gave the ‘Rays’ power play lots of energy, but in the end, the Nailers kept the puck out of the net while shorthanded. Period one was a wide open affair as the two teams combined for 27 shots on goal as the Nailers jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead. An early penalty to ‘Rays’ defenseman Nate Kiser for interference at 2:08 was followed twenty seconds later by a Joey Haddad power play goal to put the Nailers up 1-0. The Haddad goal came on a deflection from in front of the net off a shot from defenseman Zach Hansen. Forward Paul Crowder also drew an assist. Haddad quickly followed his first strike with his second goal of the game less than three minutes later. He grabbed a turnover inside the South Carolina zone and hammered home an unassisted goal at the 5:10 mark. South Carolina finally slowed the visitor’s momentum when Trent Campbell jammed home a rebound off a hard shot from the point by defenseman Derek Keller. McBride drew the secondary assist on the goal at 8:38 of the stanza. The teams skated off for the first intermission with the Nailers clinging to a 2-1 lead. Next up defenseman Alex Grant pushed the Nailers up 3-1 just over five minutes into the second period. Crowder got the assist on Grant’s hard blast from the point at the 5:21 mark. Less than two minutes later, at 7:00, South Carolina climbed back into the game as forward Matt Scherer beat Delmas. Yeo and Patrick Cullity provided the setup passes. Delmas got a piece of Scherer’s shot, but it bounced off his glove and dribbled across the goal line. Next up Campbell got his second goal of the night, about half way through the period, as Derek Keller and Pierre-Luc O’Brien drew assists. The teams then went scoreless for the remainder of the second period and for the whole third period as the game turned into a defensive struggle. The Nailers survived a late third period power play by South Carolina that bled over for 1:21 into overtime before the Orpik shot surprised Ford and stunned the crowd of 1,267 to give the Nailers tonight’s win and a 1-0 lead in the series. The two teams face off again, Wednesday, at the North Charleston Coliseum at 7 PM. The series will then move to Wheeling on Friday, and for games four and five Saturday and next Monday, if needed. Contact the author at Phil.Brand@prohockeynews.com
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