NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. – Five games into the 2015 ECHL Kelly Cup Finals and the road team has now won four times. Gregor Hanson sent a crowd of 4,184 home, shaking their heads for the second game in a row, after his overtime goal lifted the Allen Americans to a 3-2 win over the South Carolina Stingrays at the North Charleston Coliseum on Tuesday night. The game, originally scheduled for a 7:05pm opening faceoff, didn’t get underway until 8:15pm due to a power outage earlier in the day.
Once things got underway it was South Carolina that would find the net first. Patrick Gaul sent a bouncing puck of the leg of Allen netminder Riley Gill for the night’s first goal, his fifth of the playoffs, at 8:17 of the first period to make it 1-0 Stingrays. Wayne Simpson added to his record-setting postseason on the play, assisting on the goal for his 37th point, while Lee Moffie received the second assist on the lone goal of the first period. Allen carried a 9-6 shot advantage into the first intermission, as South Carolina maintained a 1-0 lead at the break.
Allen bounced back in the second period, out-shooting South Carolina 17-10, and ultimately tying the game mid-way through the period on Jamie Schaafsma’s fifth postseason goal. Chris Crane worked the puck through traffic before sending a shot towards the net from the circle that was deflected past Stingrays goalie Jeff Jakaitis by Schaafsma at 9:09 of the second to make it 1-1. Kevin Young picked up a secondary assist on the score.
The two teams combined for 14 penalty minutes in the second period, but neither side would score on their three combined power play chances. South Carolina finished the night 0-for-3 on the man advantage, while Allen went 0-for-1.
The Americans captured their first lead of the night 3:01 into the third period, when Crane scored his ninth playoff goal to make it 2-1. Schaafsma shoveled a pass to Crane who fired a shot past Jakaitis, high glove-side for the score with Gary Steffes also earning an assist. Allen would hold the lead for 13-minutes until South Carolina answered in the final minutes of regulation.
Simpson tied the game at 16:05 of the third after backhanding the puck past Gill off a rebounded Drew MacKenzie shot. MacKenzie and Derek DeBlois picked up the assists on Simpson’s 13th playoff goal and 38th point of the postseason. The goal would send the game into overtime as the Stingrays posted a 9-4 shot advantage in the period.
5:25 into overtime, Konrad Abelthauser carried the puck into the Stingrays zone, down the middle, before passing to Hanson on his left. Hanson then slipped past a defender and put the puck past Jakaitis for the game winner.
Gill (12-6-0) stopped 23-of-25 shots in the win, while Jakaitis (14-4-6) made 29 saves on 33 shots while being saddled with the loss.
The Americans now look to close out the series to claim their third-straight championship, first in the ECHL, Wednesday at 7:05pm EDT in North Charleston. Game seven, if necessary, is scheduled for Sunday at 4:05pm CDT at the Allen Event Center.
Contact the writer: john.hall@prohockeynews.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.