NORTH CHARLESTON, SC – Good playoff teams know how to handle tough situations. Then there are teams that seem destined to win, turning even the smallest of opportunities into victory.
This year’s Colorado Eagles might just be the perfect combination of the two.
Sunday night at the North Charleston Coliseum, the Eagles proved yet again that the hockey gods may be in their corner with a heart-stopping 5-4 overtime victory over the South Carolina Stingrays in front of an announced crowd of 8,079. The victory put Colorado one game away from the franchise’s first ever ECHL title with game four of the best-of-seven series scheduled for Monday night in North Charleston.
Matt Register’s power play goal with 24.2 seconds left in regulation sent the game into overtime where Matt Garbowsky played the hero, scoring his fourth goal of the series 6:04 into the first extra period. If the scenario sounds a bit familiar, it should. In game one of the series, Garbowsky tied the contest with 2.5 seconds left in the third period, setting up Register for a power play tally midway through the second overtime to give the Eagles an early edge.
It was a gut-wrenching loss for the host Stingrays, who had four one-goal leads only to see the visitors foil them each time. South Carolina will now have to win four straight contests if it is to earn the franchise’s fourth Kelly Cup championship.
Playing in front of their home fans for the first time since Nay 15th – a span of six games – the Stingrays felt the energy from the crowd. That energy turned into the game’s opening goal during a South Carolina power play early in the first period. Having failed to mount an attack through most of the advantage, Andrew Cherniwchan carried the puck into the Colorado defensive zone and dished it to teammate Rob Flick. Flick proceeded to fire a cross-ice pass to Kelly Zajac who beat Eagles goalie Lukas Hafner for his sixth post-season goal and the lead.
Whatever momentum the Stingrays got from the Zajac tally was given right back midway through the frame when overlapping penalties put the visitors on an advantage for 3:38. South Carolina held Colorado at bay but just as the second man was coming back into the play, Julien Nantel picked up the rebound of a blocked shot off the stick of Shawn St-Amant and rifled it past Stingrays goalie Parker Milner for his eighth playoff goal and a tie score.
South Carolina’s Parker Milner made 27 saves in Sunday night’s game three loss (PHN file photo courtesy of Terry Sanford)
Overlapping infractions by both teams late in the first carried over into the second period, setting up a four-on-four situation that the home team took advantage of. Just 1:08 into the middle stanza, Cherniwchan was in the right place at the right time to convert the rebound of a Flick shot for his seventh goal of the post-season.
South Carolina’s second lead of the night lasted until the 12:09 mark when Colorado struck for the second time in the contest. This time it was defenseman Sergei Boikov – fresh out of the penalty box on a matching minor with the Stingrays Domenic Monardo – who evened the score when he took a feed from Nantel and fired a shot at the South Carolina net. The puck managed to worm its way through some traffic and settled into the back of the net for the rookie blueliner’s third playoff goal.
The Stingrays fought back and took the lead once again late in the frame thanks to a great individual effort. Steven McParland blocked a shot in his defensive zone and turned it into an offensive rush. McParland carried the puck into the Colorado end and worked his way to where he fired a shot top corner past Hafner for his seventh post-season tally. The goal, coming at the 15:38 mark of the period, allowed South Carolina to carry a slim 3-2 lead into the second intermission.
Colorado dug in and came out firing in the third period, testing Milner (27 saves) early and often. Milner was able to hold off the Eagles until nine seconds past the halfway point of the frame when another bounce went the visitors way. A shot by Nantel was blocked back in the direction of defenseman Jake Marto. Marto did the only thing he could, firing a low hard shot that snuck past Milner. For Marto, it was his fifth playoff marker but more importantly, it turned the final 9:51 of regulation into a battle of wills.
With just under five minutes to go, Colorado’s Mason Geertsen was sent to the box, giving the Stingrays their fourth power play of the game. It turned into gold when a shot by Derek Arnold took a perfect bounce off the end boards to Joe Devin who whacked it past Hafner (26 saves) for his fourth goal of the playoffs and a 4-3 lead with 3:41 left.
Colorado’s Matt Garbowsky scored the overtime game-winner Sunday night (PHN file photo courtesy of Terry Sanford)
Desperate for a tying goal, the Eagles pulled Hafner with a little over a minute left in regulation. The extra attacker situation turned into a two-man advantage when South Carolina’s Marcus Perrier took down St-Amant with 31.1 seconds to go. Colorado’s charmed life kicked in for the second time in the series when seven seconds after the offensive zone face-off, the puck went back to Register who beat Milner with his eighth goal of the playoffs and second in the series to send the game into overtime.
South Carolina thought it had the game won early in the extra period when Zajac redirected a shot past Hafner but the puck rang the post and stayed out. Moments later, Milner robbed Nantel with a diving glove save to keep the game going.
The ice opened up a bit 4:12 in when Geertsen and the Stingrays Cody Corbett were sent off together with matching slashing penalties. As it turned it, it was just enough space for Garbowsky to get loose for a shot that beat Milner for his fourth score of the series and the game-winner, putting the Eagles’ franchise’s first championship since its days in the Central Hockey League just a win away.
Notes: With the win, Colorado moved to 6-0 in overtime games this playoff season… Both the Eagles Garbowsky and the Stingrays McParland have scored at least one goal in all three games so far in the series… Colorado’s power play finished the night 1-for-5 while South Carolina converted on two of its four chances with a man advantage… Sunday’s game three sellout in North Charleston was the third sellout of the series after both games one and two in Loveland sold out.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
Contact the photographer at terry.sanford@prohockeynews.com
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