NORTH CHARLESTON, SC – By its definition in the “unofficial” book of hockey, post-season play is supposed to be defined by defense, solid goaltending and hard-nosed, gritty effort. The fans who saw the Adirondack Thunder and South Carolina Stingrays battle at the North Charleston Coliseum Saturday night got a textbook display of playoff hockey – and then some.
Mark Dekanich spun a spectacular 21-save shutout and Austin Fyten scored the lone goal of the game as the host Stingrays edged the Thunder 1-0 in game two of the teams’ best-of-seven Eastern conference semifinal series in front of an announced crowd of 3,291. With the victory, South Carolina evened the series at one win apiece as the teams prepare to head to Glens Falls, New York for games three, four and five next week.
Dekanich, who replaced started Vitek Vanecek and took the loss in Friday’s high-scoring shootout, got plenty of help from his Stingrays teammates on the defensive end. South Carolina held the Thunder to single digit shots on net in all three periods, adding to a streak that began with the final two periods on Friday.
Adirondack goalie Ken Appleby was as good if not arguably slightly better that Dekanich. After allowing five goals on Friday, Appleby rebounded with 29 saves on 30 shots faced with only Fyten’s second period rebound goal getting past him. Much like his counterpart, Appleby was part spectacular and all fundamentally sound in giving his team a chance to tie or win right up to the final buzzer.
While Saturday’s game was much quieter on the scoreboard than game one, it did not lack for physicality and intensity. The post-whistle scrums were just as numerous and at times just as nasty as Friday nights were and the chatter between opponents was just as salty.
Between the two teams, seventeen shots were directed on net in the opening period. Appleby made his best save of the frame early, denying a scoring chance by Fyten with his catching glove. The best stops of the back half of the stanza were made by Dekanich as he robbed Peter MacArthur with his right pad during an Adirondack power play and went with the left pad to fend off a shot at the buzzer.
Not wanting to head north down by two games, the Stingrays opened things up in the second. From the 4:20 mark on, Appleby saw more than his share of rubber as South Carolina fired seventeen on him in the period.
The scoreless tie lasted past the midpoint of the frame before someone found a way to dent the scoreboard. That someone turned out to be Fyten when he instinctively followed up on a shot that Appleby stopped and tucked the rebound into the net for his third goal of the playoffs. Caleb Herbert and Bobby Shea earned assists on the goal.
It was the fourth time in this post-season that the Stingrays had scored first and in the previous three they went on to win the game. Based on Adirondack’s known ability to score, one goal seemed to not be nearly enough but Appleby rebounded quickly from giving up the Fyten tally to make the task of scoring a second on seem nearly impossible.
If scoring on Appleby was nearly impossible, putting one past Dekanich was simply out of the question. He only faced six shots in the second but he had to be ready when Thunder forward Ryan Lomberg broke in and went high with a shot but Dekanich got his shoulder on it to keep the shutout in tact.
As the third period unfolded, Adirondack started to get its offense untracked. The pressure the Thunder applied kept the Stingrays on their heels as evidenced by South Carolina not recording a shot on net until less than seven minutes remained.
The visitors kept Dekanich fairly busy, putting seven shots on the board in thirteen minutes of play. As it turned out, those seven shots were the only ones as the Stingrays defense did everything it could by keeping the Thunder out of the prime scoring areas and not letting anything get through. Even with Appleby pulled for an extra attacker, Adirondack could not find a clear lane to put the puck on net before time ran out.
Neither team was successful on the power play in the contest as Adirondack went 0-for-5 while South Carolina was 0-for-3.
Contact the author at Don.money@prohockeynews.com
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