ESTERO, FLA – There is a saying in playoff hockey that any shot is a good shot, especially when the game goes into overtime. Friday night at Germain Arena, South Carolina Stingrays forward Domenic Monardo proved just how true that saying is.
Monardo scored two goals, including the game winner with 54.9 seconds left in the second overtime, to give the Stingrays a 3-2 come-from-behind victory over the Florida Everblades in front of an announced crowd of 2,993. The win allowed the visiting Stingrays to take an early one game to none lead in the best-of-seven South division finals series with game two scheduled for Saturday night in Estero.
Monardo’s winner came on what looked to be a rather innocent shot. Pouncing on the rebound of a blocked shot in the left circle, he sent the puck at the net where it hit the blocker of Everblades goalie Anthony Peters. The disc flipped up and over the netminder and dropped to the ice with enough momentum to crawl across the goal line to end the contest.
It was an odd way for such a dramatic contest to end as both Peters and South Carolina goalie Parker Milner were locked in a high-caliber battle within a war with neither seemingly willing to flinch. Between the two, they combined for 60 saves with many of them spectacular and clutch as the game unfolded well into its fifth period.
Meeting for the first time since 2015, the host Everblades – who were playing their fifth game in seven days – appeared to have the game under lock and key early. The first two shots Florida took on Milner found the back of the net, the first coming 3:23 into the opening period when Brant Harris took a feed from the corner from Levko Koper and roofed it just under the crossbar over the Stingrays netminder. For Harris it was his fourth goal of the playoffs.
Just over five minutes later, Harris intercepted a clearing attempt by Danny Federico along the boards and looked up to see Michael Kirkpatrick all alone in front. Harris’ quickly fed the puck and Kirkpatrick did the rest, making a couple of moves before stashing a backhander over Milner just under the bar for his third post-season tally.
The Stingrays, who had been off since dispatching Greenville on Monday, did not get much offense going in the first period, struggling to find their skates. Peters was forced to make just three saves over the course of the frame as he and his teammates headed to the locker room with a two goal cushion at the first intermission.
Things turned around for the visitors in the middle stanza. The game’s first penalty – a tripping call on Florida’s Josh Wesley – was just the shot the Stingrays needed to get on track. With time winding down on the power play, Joe Devin got the puck to the front of the net where Steven McParland batted it out of mid-air and past Peters for his first goal of the playoffs.
Following the McParland score, the score remained at 2-1 for a long stretch as both Peters and Milner hunkered down and time after time frustrated the opposition’s offense. Then with less than four minutes left in the second period, Monardo struck to tie the game with a shot that found its way through some heavy traffic and snuck past Peters for his third tally of the playoffs and a tie score after two.
As the third period went along, both teams found themselves with opportunities to break the deadlock via the power play. The host Everblades had three such chances but Milner was not ready for the night to end as he turned aside eight Florida shots. At the other end, Peters was not as busy as he looked at and stopped all three Stingrays shots to send the contest to overtime.
The first extra period was frenetic to say the least. Each side had glittering chances to end the contest but the goalies were locked in. Peters was the star in the first half of the frame, robbing both Steve Weinstein and Monardo to keep his team in the game. Not to be outdone, Milner stole the back half of the period, staring down Koper on a clean breakaway and taking a sure goal away from Stephen MacAulay with his catching glove.
The breakneck pace continued into the second overtime as Peters again took one away from Monardo early. Midway through the frame, MacAulay nearly ended the proceedings when he whipped a shot that beat Milner but rang off the crossbar and bounded away. Then with everyone resigning themselves to a third extra period, Monardo found his final chance and sent everyone home to get ready for game two.
Notes: Milner made 34 saves to pick up his fifth straight victory while Peters stopped 26 as he lost for the first time in the 2017 playoffs… South Carolina finished the game 1-for-5 on the power play while Florida went 0-for-3… The 99:05 of playing time was the second longest playoff tilt between the two rivals, coming up just shy of the 105:38 played on May 6th/7th in 2015 when Corey Trivino’s goal allowed the Everblades to beat the Stingrays in the third overtime… Game time Saturday night at Germain Arena is set for 7 p.m.
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