NORTH CHARLESTON, SC – A crowd of 2,655 was treated to more than 30 minutes of “free hockey” before the Florida Everblades beat the South Carolina Stingrays 3-2 by scoring a power play goal at 12:19 of the game’s second overtime period.
Forward Mark Lee scored on a rebound off of a shot by regular season ECHL scoring leader Kevin Baker to tie the best-of-seven games series at two games apiece. Matt Duffy was also credited with an assist on the game winner. South Carolina center Nikita Kashirsky had been whistled off on a delay of game penalty at 11:11 when he cleared a loose puck in his own goal crease up and over the glass to temporarily prevent the eventual ‘Blades’ win.
The teams traded goals in the first two periods as each team scored one time each in the first two stanzas. While both teams had a number of opportunities in the third period and in the first period of overtime the game remained tied 2-2 until Lee ended it with his sudden death goal.
The ‘Blades got regulation time goals from Milan Gajic in period one while Ross Carlson tallied goal number two, his seventh of the playoffs, in the second period. The Stingrays got two answering scores from forward Jeff Corey who got his fourth goal of the playoffs in period one on a power play and playoff goal number five in period two.
The Everblades were put to the test late in period one when forward Brad Herauf was assessed a five minute major penalty for spearing and a game misconduct at the 18:42 mark. He was called for jamming his stick blade into the groin of Kashirsky who immediately fell to the ice. The referee did not see the infraction but the on ice crew got the call right when Herauf’s offense was brought to the attention of Referee Gino Binda by one of his linesmen. However, great Florida defense and a disorganized ‘Rays’ power play prevented any scoring on the five minute man advantage which was spread over two periods.
South Carolina goalie James Reimer faced 43 shots in taking the loss while David Leggio stopped 33 of the 35 shots he faced in the win. Both goalies played well making a number of game saving stops late in period three and in both periods of overtime. Stingrays assistant coach Cail MacLean was upbeat despite the loss.
“It is hard to lose but both teams played well,” said MacLean. “Our penalty kill did well tonight but eventually a bounce goes one way or the other. When you leave the rink after a loss like this you just put it behind you. It is now a best of two out of three series.”
Neither team will get much rest as face-off for the fifth game of the series is at 5 PM Sunday at the North Charleston Coliseum.
Contact the author at Phil.Brand@prohockeynews.com Catch all the playoffs at Intotheboards.net
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