FISHERS, Ind. – The finale was not as easy as the first two games of the series, requiring a shootout to declare a winner, but the Florida Everblades came away with a 3-2 victory over the Indy Fuel Saturday night at Fishers Event Center. Will Cranley stopped 26 shots and was perfect in goal during the three-round shootout, while Alex Kile was the only player from either team to find the net, as the Blades closed out a three-game sweep and extended the team’s winning streak to a season-high five games.
Indy dominated the shot count in the first period by a 14-5 margin, but the Everblades scored the only goal of the game’s first 20 minutes. Dillon Hamaliuk picked an opportune time to register his first goal with the Blades, lighting the lamp with just over two minutes to play in the opening frame.
The Everblades’ 1-0 lead held up for the better part of a relatively quiet second period in which Florida outshot Indy 9-4, but Lucas Brenton knotted the game for the Fuel with his first professional goal at the 14:54 mark of the middle stanza.
Goal-scoring opportunities remained hard to come by for most of the third period, but Carson Gicewicz struck for a team-high 19th time of the season to regain the lead for the Everblades at the 13:57 mark. A streaking Gicewicz blasted home a rebound of Kyle Betts blast to but the Blades on top 2-1. Unfortunately, Colin Bilek knotted the game at 2-2 with 2:22 left in regulation as the game went into overtime. Indy claimed a 9-8 edge in shots on goal to hold a 27-22 edge after 60 minutes.
The Everblades controlled the tempo in overtime, outshooting the Fuel 3-1, but despite several strong opportunities for the visitors, the game was scoreless for the additional seven minutes of action, sending the contest to a shootout.
In the three-round shootout, Cranley stopped Indy’s first three shooters, allowing Kile to post the only goal for either team and seal the Everblades’ 3-2 victory.
With the series sweep of Indy now complete, the Everblades will head back to Southwest Florida to meet up with the Tahoe Knight Monsters on Hertz Arena ice Wednesday evening at 7:30 p.m. The midweek battle not only opens a three-game set with the ECHL’s newest team, but marks Tahoe’s first-ever visit to the Sunshine State. Visit floridaeverblades.com for more information and to purchase tickets.