Daavettila powers K-Wings over Everblades

KALAMAZOO, Mich – “Lucky.”
That was the word Head Coach Nick Bootland used to describe his team’s 4-3 win on Friday night. The win gives the Kalamazoo Wings a 2-1 lead over the Florida Everblades in the first round of the 2011 Kelly Cup Playoffs.
“They certainly out-played us in the first period and there were times in the second and third where they had a lot of momentum as well,” Bootland said. “They were the better team in my mind tonight and we have to respond with a better team effort.”
After ending the first period tied at one goal apiece, the K-Wings came out of the locker room strong in the second period. Forward Trent Daavettila scored 27 seconds into the period during a power play carried over from the previous frame.
Exactly one-minute later, Justin Taylor scored his first goal of the post-season thanks to a perfect tape-to-tape pass from linemate Brandon Svendson.
“We’re trying to get pucks to the net as often as we can. Most of our goals are scored right around that crease and I think we’re doing a good job of getting pucks to the net,” Daavetilla said.
The diminutive crowd of 2,099 was thrown into a frenzy during the first half of the second period as Everblades goalie Mike Zacharias turned aside multiple chances in the crease born from Kalamazoo’s momentum.
Zacharias, playing his first ever playoff game, was in the line-up after starting goaltender Bobby Goepfert was called up to the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers on Thursday. Goepfert held a 1-1 post-season record with a 3.29 GAA and a 0.912 save percentage.
Everblades Head Coach Gregg Poss wasn’t troubled by the loss of Goepfert.
“We knew he was going back up (to the AHL),” he said. “Zacharias has played well for us so we got him in there tonight and I thought we could have won the game.”
Florida pushed back with momentum of their own, late in the second period and pulled within one goal after defenseman Bobby Raymond found himself alone with the puck in front of net. His initial shot flubbed off tip of his stick but he recovered in time to flip the goal above a prone Ryan Nie.
Fights and cheap shots became progressively more common as the game wore on, giving each team multiple chances on the power play.
“We have one goal in mind and that’s trying to move forward,” Bootland said. “These guys are making team-first decisions when it comes to the discipline. They’re taking a punch for their teammates and we’re trying to stay focused.”
The Everblades entered the game leading the league with 27.5 penalty minutes per game in the post-season. Tonight they added another fourteen minutes while giving the K-Wings five chances on the power play.
The K-Wings gave up four power plays of their own— none bigger than forward Darryl Lloyd’s tripping call in the beginning of the third period.
During the power play, the Everblades tied the game at three goals a piece after forward Brad Snetsinger raced into the zone and lasered a backhand shot over the head of Nie.
With each team looking for a hero, K-Wings forward Brady Leisenring obliged. His five-hole shot in the third period gave Kalamazoo the 4-3 lead with 11:21 left to play.
The K-Wings managed to hold off the Everblades in the last half of the period despite two-minutes of four-on-four hockey and a hooking penalty in the last three minutes of play.
Bootland may have called his team’s win “lucky,” but Poss wasn’t as impressed with his team’s performance.
“I thought we gave up a couple of goals too easily. We weren’t quite as attentive defensively as we should be. It was a good effort, we worked really hard, we just have to work a bit smarter,” Poss said.
Daavettila had a goal and an assist tonight to give him five points overall in the post-season (two goals, three assists), which ties him for first in the league with the Utah Grizzlies Simon Ferguson.
Game four of the series will be played at Wings Stadium Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. Game five, if necessary, will be played in Kalamazoo on Monday night at 7 p.m.
Contact the writer: Ryan.Loren@ProHockeyNews.com