After a hard-hitting and scoreless first period of play, the Everblades grabbed the game’s first goal at 17:58 of the second period. Nicolas Deschamps dropped a pass to Mike Little in the slot, and Little wristed a shot that beat South Carolina goaltender Jeff Jakaitis high on the glove side.Florida battled to preserve its 1-0 lead for most of the third period, but in a 4-on-4 situation, the Stingrays emptied their net to allow for the extra attacker. The move paid off, as Drew MacKenzie flexed a shot from that point that clipped past Everblades netminder Allen York who was screened in front. Mackenzie’s goal evened the score at 1-1 with 1:04 remaining in regulation, and eventually forced overtime.
Overtime eventually turned into three extra sessions, as both York and Jakaitis put on a show, and traded off spectacular saves to keep the game alive.
After Florida’s Mike Aviani and South Carolina’s Patrick Haul were assessed matching penalties in the third overtime, the game was placed into another 4-on-4 situation. The Everblades Corey Trivino won a faceoff in the offensive zone back to Mike Little at the point. Little steered a pass to across the ice to Gleason Fournier whose shot hot off the pads of Jakaitis at the top of the crease. Trivino positioned himself in front of the net and slid the round into the net to seal the 2-1 triple overtime win for Florida.
York earns the win stopping 43 of 44 shots, while Jakaitis takes the loss allowing two goals on 50 shots faced in the game.
Both teams skated to over 105 minutes of hockey (105:28) in the contest which was the longest game in Everblades history. The previous mark was set back on May 9, 2007 in a 4-3 loss vs. Dayton (101:23).
You must be logged in to post a comment.