MANCHESTER, NH – Up until Monday night, neither the South Carolina Stingrays nor the Manchester Monarchs had faced an elimination game during the 2017 ECHL Kelly Cup playoffs. When the two teams arrived at SNHU Arena, the Monarchs faced the possibility that their season could come to an end. On the other hand, the Stingrays had a little more room for error but the thought of a game seven on Wednesday was something the visitors did not want to think about.
By the time the final horn sounded, the host Monarchs had a message for everyone, especially the Stingrays: let’s do this one more time.
Led by two goals from Tyler Sikura and the near-perfect play of goalie Sam Brittain, Manchester forced a deciding game seven with a 5-1 victory over South Carolina in front of an announced crowd of 1,520. Matt Leitner and Daniel Ciampini each chipped in with a goal and an assist as the Monarchs kept their season alive for at least one more home game.
The winner of Wednesday’s ultimate duel will get to head west to Loveland, Colorado to face the Colorado Eagles in game one of the Kelly Cup finals on Friday night.
Monday’s game six looked very similar to last Saturday’s game five – at least from the outset. The play of the Monarchs goalie Brittain in the early and middle parts of the first period was solid and it bought his teammates time to get their bearings. Brittain faced seven Stingrays shots before the opening frame was halfway done, turning aside every one of them.
At the other end of the ice, South Carolina netminder Parker Milner was just as good, making six saves but it was a penalty to former Monarch Derek Arnold that began the visitors downfall. Following a missed opportunity by South Carolina to clear the zone, Manchester’s Daniel Doremus stepped in to take a face-off. He won it cleanly back to Sikura who was in perfect position near the slot to rifle a shot past Milner’s catching glove for the opening score if the contest. For Sikura, it was his fourth goal of the 2017 post-season.
Down by one as the second period began, the Stingrays came out aggressively and started firing at will. Brittain, who had recorded 14 saves in the opening stanza, seemed to get better and better with each passing test. He was especially good near the midway point of the period, stopping South Carolina sharpshooters Rob Flick and Domenic Monardo on successive attempts and not too long after thwarted Joe Devin on an initial shot and a quick rebound.
Milner, who had won all four previous games the Stingrays had played on Monday nights in the playoffs, came up with a big save on Zac Lynch late in the frame but he was not as lucky at the 16:28 mark. That was when some hard pressure by the Monarchs following a turnover ended with Lynch setting up Leitner for a one-time blast that beat Milner high to the glove side. It was Leitner’s eighth tally of the playoffs but more importantly it was an insurance marker as Manchester took a 2-0 lead into the final period.
Milner (27 saves) kept his team in the game early in the third, making a pair of key saves on Ciampini and Ashton Rome. The problem was that his teammates were not having much luck at the other end as the Monarchs were either blocking shots or redirecting attempts by the Stingrays away from the net and giving up very few second and third chances.
The Monarchs began to open the game up at the 8:51 mark thanks to a player who was seeing his first action of the playoffs. Gasper Kopitar, younger brother of Los Angeles Kings star Anze, won an offensive zone face-off back to Connor Hardawa at the point. Hardawa drove a shot to the net that Milner stopped but Rome was there to collect the rebound and put it in for his eighth of the post-season and a commanding 3-0 lead.
Seven minutes later, Kopitar won a defensive zone draw to Cory Ward who quickly advanced the puck to the other end of the ice on an odd-man rush. He put the puck on net and Milner made the stop but Sikura was there to clean up the rebound for his second of the night and the rout was on.
Sixty-three seconds later, the Monarchs caught the Stingrays in an all-out push. The resulting four-on-one break became goal number five when Leitner set up Ciampini for his fourth goal of the playoffs. Stingrays head coach Ryan Warsofsky pulled Milner – who had played every minute up to that point – and inserted Adam Carlson for the final three minutes of regulation.
South Carolina was able to break Brittain’s shutout bid thanks to a late power play. With 1:21 left, Joey Leach made a pretty cross-ice pass to Olivier Archambault who snuck a wrist shot past the Monarchs goalie for his fifth playoff score to avoid the whitewashing.
Notes: Brittain finished the game with 38 saves, his second highest single game total of the series. He stopped 44 shots in Manchester’s game two win… The Monarchs finished the night 1-for-4 on the power play while The Stingrays went 1-for-2… Wednesday’s game seven will be the third straight winner-take-all conference finals battle for the Stingrays. They defeated Toledo in 2015 and lost to Wheeling in 2016.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
Follow the author on Twitter @phnsingleaedit or @prohockeynews
You must be logged in to post a comment.