MANCHESTER, NH – Through three games of the ECHL’s Eastern Conference finals, Manchester Monarchs goalie Sam Brittain out battled South Carolina Stingrays netminder Parker Milner as the Monarchs gained a two games to one lead on the road. If the Stingrays were to avoid going down 3-1 in the best-of-seven series, they needed Milner to regain the swagger that had gotten his team to this point.
Friday night at SNHU Arena, Milner delivered one of his best performances of the 2017 Kelly Cup Playoffs and the Stingrays got back one of the two games they lost at home.
Milner made 33 saves while his teammates killed off seven Manchester power plays as the visitors from the Palmetto State downed their hosts from the Granite State 2-1 in front of an announced crowd of 2,517. The victory allowed South Carolina to even the best-of-seven series at two wins each with a now pivotal game five set for Saturday night.
While it was the fourth contest between the two teams in just over a week’s time, the first game at SNHU Arena started off on the cautious side as if the squads were playing game one. It took a while for the offenses to get their legs but when they did, Milner and Brittain were once again the stars. The netminders took turns making saves to keep the game scoreless with the best stop of the lot belonging to Milner when he denied Daniel Ciampini on a partial breakaway.
Ciampini drew a penalty on South Carolina’s Marcus Perrier early in the second period, giving the Monarchs their third power play of the game. Manchester pinned the Stingrays in their defensive zone for much of the two minutes and just missed opening the scoring when a drive by defenseman Thomas Schemitsch rang off the crossbar behind Milner.
A subsequent Monarchs man advantage led to another golden opportunity when Quentin Shore lined up a one-time shot but Milner turned it away. By the midpoint of the frame, Manchester had built a 9-2 advantage on the shot board but the score was still knotted at zero.
South Carolina finally began to mount an attack with nine minutes left in the period and it paid off. With 8:40 to go before the second intermission, Rob Flick fed the puck to defenseman Max Nicastro just inside the blueline. Nicastro waited for a shooting lane to open up and let go with a hard, low shot toward the net. The puck made contact with the skate of Andrew Cherniwchan and skidded past Brittain for Cherniwchan’s sixth post-season tally.
The teams battled back and forth for the remainder of the stanza as the netminders settled back into their individual war. A late Stingrays power play nearly yielded a second goal for the visitors but Brittain made a huge save on Kelly Zajac just as the horn sounded to keep it a one-goal game headed to the third.
The momentum created by the late second man advantage blossomed into South Carolina’s second goal of the game early in the final frame. One tick shy of ninety seconds in, Domenic Monardo skated the puck into the Manchester end along the boards. He then sent the puck toward the net but it never got there as it was blocked. The carom found the stick of Fluck who immediately laced a shot up and over BrittIn into the top left corner of the net for his tenth goal of the playoffs.
The next twelve minutes of play were a defensive struggle with the next goal being huge. Brittain did his part, keeping the Stingrays from getting what could have been the game-clinching score. Milner was able to hold off the Monarchs’ sixth power play of the game.
Manchester finally dented Milner’s armor at the 13:59 mark to pull within one. The play came when Daniel Doremus sent a shot attempt at the South Carolina net but his try was blocked. The puck kicked out to the top of the slot where Shore collected it and ripped a wrist shot over Milner’s shoulder for his sixth playoff goal.
Back in the game, the Monarchs pushed hard for the game-tying tally but Milner was in no mood to give in. As time began to run short on the home team, Brittain was pulled for an extra attacker. The advantage grew to two men when South Carolina’s Joe Devin was sent to the penalty box with 43.8 seconds remaining. The Stingrays and Milner held the Monarchs at bay over those final seconds to take the game and turn the series into a best-of-three fight.
Notes: Brittain finished the night with 21 saves… While Manchester was going 0-for-7 on the power play, South Carolina was 0-for-4 and is now 0-for-7 in its two wins in the series… The loss was just the second for the Monarchs in six contests at SNHU Arena… Manchester outshot South Carolina in the first period for the first time in the series… With his goal, the Stingrays’ Cherniwchan now has at least a point in nine straight playoffs games… Flick ran his goal scoring streak to three games. He now had 10 goals and 8 assists in 15 post-season contests… Saturday’s game six will start at 6 p.m.
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