NORTH CHARLESTON, SC – Nobody likes Mondays and usually with good reason. Monday is the end of the weekend and the beginning of the work week.
There are however a few people who do not mind Mondays at all and South Carolina Stingrays goalie Parker Milner appears to be one of them – especially now that it is playoff time.
In front of an announced crowd of 2,714 at the North Charleston Coliseum, Milner stopped all 38 shots he faced to backstop the Stingrays to a 1-0 double overtime win over the Florida Everblades. Andrew Cherniwchan’s goal 2:39 into the second extra period was the difference as South Carolina took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven South division finals but it was the work of Milner that made it all possible.
Game four of the series is set for Wednesday night in North Charleston.
Milner, an undrafted free agent out of Boston College, has been the ultimate ironman in the ECHL Kelly Cup Playoffs. He has played every second of all nine South Carolina games – a total of 601 minutes – and has a 6-3 record with a 1.90 goals against average and a .928 save percentage to show for it. Three of his victories have come on Monday nights where he has yet to allow a goal, posting two shutouts against Greenville in the first round before blanking the high-powered Florida offense in his third straight start of the week performance.
Milner’s effort overshadowed his opponent at the other end of the ice, Everblades netminder Alex Nedeljkovic, who was brilliant in defeat. Nedeljkovic, a 2014 draft choice of the Carolina Hurricanes, made 37 saves with the only shot that got past him coming when Cherniwchan cleaned up a missed shot off of a power move to the net by Rob Flick. The Everblades had kept Flick in check all night until he sped through the Florida defensive zone and cut to the front of the cage, drawing both defenders and leaving Cherniwchan to score his fourth goal of the playoffs and third straight tally for the Stingrays over two games.
The subtext for the context was written well before the opening face-off as with Florida’s Mitchell Heard sitting out a one-game suspension for his second instigator penalty of the playoffs, Everblades head coach Brad Ralph dressed Curt Gogol for just the second time in the playoffs. On the other side of the ice, South Carolina head coach Ryan Warsofsky brought Trevor Gillies into the lineup to add some grit to his squad.
The expected matchup between the two enforcers came eight minutes into the opening period and it did not end well for the Stingrays. Back behind the play, the pair came together in an open ice collision that left Gogol crumpled on the ice in pain and Gillies heading to the showers with a major penalty and game misconduct for kneeing. Gogol went to the locker room but did return later.
Florida failed to take advantage of the power play – a theme for both teams during the evening – thanks in part to Milner who showed a quick glove hand in stopping Levko Koper. The Stingrays failed on two late man advantage opportunities as the first frame ended in a scoreless tie.
The middle stanza was dominated by the visitors as they threw ten shots on the Stingrays net but Milner was more than up to the challenge. He used his stick and blocker glove to parry away an opportunity by Josh Wesley. At the other end, Nedeljkovic was matching his counterpart with key saves, one coming at the expense of South Carolina’s John Parker thanks to his catching glove.
The closest either team came to scoring in the period was late in the frame when Matt Berry thought he had Milner beat but heard the rather sickening ding of the puck hitting the post at the end of a breakaway. The Everblades did have what they thought would be an opportunity with an odd-man rush with four minutes to go but a skirmish involving Gogol and the Stingrays’ Marcus Perrier and Patrick Gaul halted the proceedings.
The teams took turns flying up and down the ice in the third period but the two netminders continued to steal the show. Even a pair of late overlapping penalties – one to each side – could not deter Milner and Nedeljkovic from their epic battle. Despite a 13-8 shot advantage by the home team, the game remained scoreless heading to sudden death overtime.
In the first extra period, the pace was frenetic as the rivals went up and down the ice in rush after rush. Milner was the busier of the two in the first half of the frame, making big saves on Berry and Koper to keep the Stingrays alive. Not to be outdone, Nedeljkovic responded with several key saves, one coming on a chance by Cherniwchan and another on Joe Devin, to maintain the scoreless tie. Nedeljkovic’s best work may have been on one particular lengthy foray by South Carolina when he denied Domenic Monardo three times and Flick once late to send the contest to a second overtime.
The Everblades came out hot in the second overtime, putting a quick five shots on Milner but the Stingrays netminder stayed strong and turned them all aside. Moments later, Monardo sent Flick away on his mad dash that ended in Cherniwchan’s game-winning tally.
Notes: Neither team was successful on the power play as Florida went 0-for-4 in the game while South Carolina went 0-for-5… In the two double overtime games in the series, Milner stopped 72 of 74 shots… In his two starts so far in the series, Nedeljkovic turned away 58 of 61 shots.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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