NORTH CHARLESTON, SC – During the 2015 ECHL Kelly Cup playoffs, South Carolina Stingrays forward Joe Devin showed a talent for scoring goals in game sevens. In two series clinching contests, he netted three goals including the overtime game-winner in triple overtime against Toledo. Wednesday night, he added another chapter to his post-season résumé while cementing his reputation as “Mr. Game Seven”.
Devin scored his team-leading ninth goal of the 2016 playoffs 15:34 into the second overtime to give Sourh Carolina a 3-2 win over the Adirondack Thunder at the North Charleston Coliseum. With the victory, the Stingrays won the best-of-seven series four games to three to move onto the Eastern conference finals against the Wheeling Nailers beginning Friday night. 
Devin’s goal made a winner out of South Carolina goalie Vitek Vanecek, who came on midway through the first overtime when starter Mark Dekanich suffered an injury and could not finish the game. Vanecek made eight saves in just shy of twenty-five minutes of play, giving the Stingrays a chance to win.
The game-winning goal came thanks to a kind carom and some luck. Bobby Shea, who had tied the game in the third period, sent a backhander wide of goalie Ken Appleby and the Adirondack net. The puck hit the end boards and bounded in front where Devin got to it first and put a backhander past Appleby’s dive into the net. It was the only point in the contest that South Carolina had the lead.
With so much on the line, both teams started the game at a fast pace. Adirondack opened the scoring 4:43 into the first period when Greg Wolfe set up Ben Johnson for a shot that hit a South Carolina defender and beat Dekanich for Johnson’s third post-season tally.
The Stingrays, playing in front of an announced crowd of 3,096 fans, responded quickly to tie the score. Just thirty-six seconds after Johnson’s goal, Austin Fyten got a shot past Appleby only to see it hit the post and drop into the crease. Before Appleby could find it, David Pacan got to the loose disc and poked it over the goal line for his first goal of the 2016 playoffs.
From that point on, the game belonged to the netminders. Both Appleby and Dekanich settled into a classic battle of wills. Each team had power play chances as the first period went on – South Carolina actually had 59 seconds with a two-man advantage – but neither side was able to light the goal light.
The Stingrays opened up the offense in the middle frame, putting a total of eleven shots on Appleby who stood tall and thwarted every chance. Adirondack was held to just four recorded shots but when Peter MacArthur set up Mitchell Heard for a one-time blast that found the back of the net during a power play in the last minute, the Thunder had a slim 2-1 lead heading to the third period.
Playing from behind again, the Stingrays continued to keep Appleby busy. Adirondack had a chance to increase its lead with a man advantage early in the final stanza but failed to score.
Two minutes after its successful penalty kill, South Carolina brought the crowd alive with the game-tying goal. It came when Kelly Zajac won an offensive zone face-off back in the direction of Shea. Shea stepped into a hard wrist shot that eluded Appleby for Shea’s first goal of the playoffs.
Shea’s score came with 10:09 left in the third period. As it turned out, it was the last goal for a very long time as Appleby and Dekanich resumed their personal battle between the pipes. The pair matched save for save until with 9:19 left in the first overtime, Dekanich made a save but did not get up. After being looked at by the athletic trainer, Dekanich left the game and Vanecek came on in relief.
Vanecek, who had not played since being pulled after allowing three goals in the first period of game one, faced just three shots over the rest of the extra period as he got settled in net. His toughest test came when Adirondack got a power play opportunity but he and his penalty-killing teammates held the Thunder at bay.
The two teams went back and forth in the second overtime, taking turns testing the orher’s netminder. Just when it seemed that a third extra period might be on its way, Devin put himself in the right spot at the right time to make him a hero again.
Appleby, who played every minute of the series for the Thunder, made 43 saves on 46 shots in a heroic but losing effort. Dekanich made 18 saves before being injured and giving way to Vanecek who picked up the win.
The Stingrays will get one day to prepare to host Wheeling, which beat Reading in a game seven overtime thriller on Riley Brace’s score with 37.1 ticks left in the extra period. Game one of the best-of-seven series drops the puck Friday night at 7:05 pm with game two scheduled for Saturday.
Contact the author at Don.money@prohockeynews.com
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