NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Allen Americans have evened the ECHL Kelly Cup Finals after a double overtime thriller in front of 7,058 fans Sunday night at North Charleston Coliseum. Vincent Arseneau’s goal 8:49 into the second overtime period gave Allen a 3-2 win to cap an action-packed affair. It marks the third win in four games for the road team in the series.
Despite being outshot 13-10, the opening period belonged to the Americans. Dyson Stevenson netted his third goal of the postseason 6:15 into the game to put Allen on top first. During a three-on-two rush, Ian Schultz fed the puck to Stevenson, who then pulled it from his forehand and around a defender before placing the puck over the blocker of South Carolina goalie Jeff Jakaitis to make it 1-0. Jamie Schaafsma was credited with the secondary assist on the play.
29-seconds later, Gregor Hanson made it 2-0 on his 11th goal of the playoffs. Hanson found himself in the right place, at the right time as he sent home a rebound off a Konrad Albetshauser shot from the left of Jakaitis. Stevenson picked up his second point of the night with a secondary assist on Hanson’s marker.
The two goal lead would last just over two minutes before the Stingrays would find the net to cut the lead in half. Off a faceoff in the Allen zone Marcus Perrier blasted a shot from the top of the circle and Derek DeBlois collected the rebound and sent it past Americans netminder Riley Gill. South Carolina’s celebration was cut short, however, as a skirmish broke loose behind the net, resulting in penalties. Once the dust settled, Albetshauser would be sent off on a roughing minor, while South Carolina’s Scott Ford, credited with the secondary assist on DeBlois’s goal, was assessed a double minor for roughing.
From there, both goaltenders took center stage, turning away shot after shot. South Carolina was able to solve Gill at 11:49 of the second, tying the game at 2-2 on a beautiful play in the slot. Joe Devin took control of the puck across the blue line, then backed into the right circle before feeding a pass to a streaking Caleb Herbert, who buried the puck past Gill. South Carolina continued to lead Allen in shots by a 13-7 margin in the second period. They continued to pile shots against Gill, adding 18 more through the scoreless third period and first overtime period, while Allen managed 11 shots on goal in that time.
Allen took control in the second overtime, outshooting South Carolina before Arseneau netted the game winner.
With the puck in the South Carolina zone, Chris Crane popped the puck loose during a battle along the boards to the left of Jakaitis and sent the loose puck to Arseneau who found the back of the net on a wrister fired from just inside the left circle.
Both goalies turned in impressive efforts on the night. Jakaitis made 34 saves on 37 shots in the South Carolina loss, while Gill stopped 44 of 46 shots for the win.
With the series tied at two games each, the two squads now look ahead to game five in North Charleston on Tuesday night, with the opening face-off scheduled for 7:05pm EDT. With the series taking a unique 3-3-1 format, game six will take place in North Charleston on Wednesday night. Game seven, if necessary, will take place in Allen, Texas on June 14.
Contact the writer: john.hall@prohockeynews.com
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