NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. – For the third time this season, the Florida Everblades rallied from a third-period deficit to claim a win, as the four-time Kelly Cup champions used some late-game heroics to earn a hard-fought 4-3 overtime victory over the South Carolina Stingrays Saturday night at North Charleston Coliseum.
With the Everblades trailing 3-2 in the waning minutes of the third period and the Blades’ net empty, Alex Kile knotted the score at 3-3 with 1:16 to play with his first goal of the season. Colin Theisen, who picked up an assist on Kile’s tally, potted the game-winner just 46 seconds into overtime to close out the Everblades’ fifth win in six games to open the season.
Exactly one week after pitching a stellar 26-save shutout in his Everblades debut last Saturday, goaltender Will Cranley was sensational for a second-straight start, making 35 saves to improve to 2-0-0-0 for the good guys.
Cranley was busy in the first period, stopping all 11 South Carolina shots he faced in the game’s first 20 minutes. The Blades were outshot 11-5 in the opening frame, but with Cranley’s perfect run in goal continuing, the Everblades and Stingrays took a scoreless deadlock into the first intermission.
Two red-hot netminders, Cranley and South Carolina’s Seth Eisele, matched saves through the midpoint of the second period, before the teams combined for three goals in a five-minute stretch. The Stingrays broke through first on a power-play goal by Andrew Perrott at 10:24, just five seconds into the home team’s first man-up advantage of the second frame.
With South Carolina leading 1-0, each team would score in a 57-second span. Grant Cruikshank doubled the Rays’ advantage to 2-0 at 14:20, but Colton Hargrove responded quickly for the Everblades at the 15:17 mark. Hargrove banged home a rebound of a Sean Allen blast for his team-leading third goal of season, with Jordan Sambrook picking up a secondary assist. As Hargrove cut South Carolina’s lead to 2-1, the Everblades snapped Eisele’s season-opening shutout streak at just over 155 minutes. Florida was outshot by a narrow 9-8 margin in the middle 20 minutes.
For most of the third period, South Carolina’s 2-1 lead remained intact, but Kyle Betts picked an opportune time for his first goal as an Everblade, as he tied the game at 2-2 with 5:05 left to play. Betts capitalized when the puck bounced off the end boards right onto his stick in front of the South Carolina net and he struck for the equalizer. Logan Lambdin and Kris Myllari were credited with the assists.
South Carolina’s Kyler Kupka regained a 3-2 lead for the home team with 1:37 to play, but with Florida having six skaters on the ice and its net empty, Kile pulled the Everblades even at 3-3, scoring his first goal of the year for the equalizer. Carson Gicewicz and Theisen logged the assists.
Less than a minute in overtime, Theisen sealed the victory with a shot off the post and into the net, collecting his third goal of the year with Jérémie Biakabutuka picking up the game-winning assist.
South Carolina outshot the Everblades 16-14 in the third period, 2-1 in overtime and 38-28 for the match. Cranley (2-0-0-0) made 35 saves for the Everblades and picked up his second win in as many outings, while Eisele (1-0-1-0) made 24 saves and suffered the loss for the Stingrays.