NORTH CHARLESTON, SC – The rally including two goals in the last four minutes of the game to tie and then steal a fifth game win from a stunned Everblades team and the North Charleston Coliseum crowd of 2,196. It was a marvelous comeback by the home team after their double overtime loss in Game 5. The series has been hard-fought with all five games having been decided by one goal margins. Late third period goals by Maxime Lacroix at 16:46 and a power play goal at 19:24 by Nikita Kashirsky gave the âRays a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series. Kashirskyâs goal came after the âBlades had been called for too many men on the ice and was scored by the rookie from a prone position on the ice in the slot. Kashirsky had fallen while skating in on goal but somehow got the sh ot off and past goalie David Leggio. The score was reminiscent of one of the highlight goals from another Russian hockey player, Kashirsky’s friend Alexandre Ovechkin. Nothing in the first period indicated that South Carolina would, or even could, win this game. The Stingrays looked extremely tired and dispirited as the Everblades dominated period one, scoring twice. Initially Jonathan Boutin was less than sharp in goal for the Stingrays despite coming off the bench fresh from sitting out the last two games. Boutin’s first ten minutes of the game were rocky especially in comparison to his counterpart David Leggio who was playing his third game in less than three full days. Ernie Hartlieb scored off Boutin at 5:37 of the opening period launching a soft shot from the corner that bounced off Boutin and trickled into the net. Brad Herlauf was awarded the only assist on the goal. That goal set the tone for the rest of the period as Florida continued to press the âRays and Peter Metcalf lit the lamp four minutes later at 9:38 off a setup pass from Milan Gajic. The ‘Rays meanwhile managed seven shots on goal in the first period but few real scoring threats. It was a performance that earned the Stingrays a tongue-lashing by their coach. â(He) stepped on his squad between periods,” said South Carolina assistant coach Cail MacLean about coach Jared Bednar. “Give the guys credit as they took his advice that the game was not lost and got the job done.â Indeed South Carolina was a different team in periods two and three despite going down by a score of 3-0 midway in the game. Kevin Baker the ECHLâs regular season scoring leader and MVP, who has been relatively quiet in this series to date, got nice passes from Metcalf and Ryan Lang and beat Boutin after coming around from behind the goal to stuff the puck in the net at the 10:11 mark. The Everblades were enjoying a 3-0 lead with the knowledge that all of the remaining games would be back on Florida ice when the âRaysâ comeback started. The comeback began a little later in the second period when the âRays managed to score twice to trail 3-2 going into the second intermission. First, Matt Scherer finally solved Leggio at 12:23 of the second stanza redirecting a shot by defenseman Johann Kroll past Leggio from the short side. Michael Dubuc, the âRaysâ leading goal scorer in the regular season who has played sparingly in the playoffs after a long injury rehabilitation period got his first goal of the playoffs two minutes later at 14:23. Sasha Pokoluk, another player who has been used sparingly while coming back from a long-term injury and Dubuc combined on a series of back-and-forth passes as they broke in two-on-one. The play was finished when Dubuc blistered a top shelf shot from in close. Florida had a chance to pad their 3-2 lead early in period three. The Stingrays were whistled for two penalties in the first minute of the period to give the Blades a five-on-three man advantage. They survived the two man disadvantage mainly on the strength of Boutin who was now the main reason his team was still in the game. South Carolina’s goaltender made a number of second and third period saves to keep the score close but the Raysâ were still unable to generate any consistency in their o ffensive zone. Whenever they did a strong Florida defense and David Leggio had the answer. Finally, two mistakes by Florida helped South Carolina finish their comeback. First ‘Blades forward Brad Herlauf, who was behind a rush up ice by the ‘Rays, grabbed his face falling to the ice indicating that he may have caught a high stick. The entire ‘Blades team seemed to slow down anticipating a possible penalty call but none came and the Stingrays kept playing. The lapse by Florida allowed Maxime Lacroix to hammer a rebound off a shot by Keith Johnson into the net for the tying goal. Kashirsky also drew an assist on the score. The second mistake was the too many men on the ice infraction that set up the aforementioned Kashirsky goal off a pass by Brad Farynuk. Suddenly and dramatically South Carolina had regained the momentum they had lost in the previous nightâs double overtime loss. Game 6 will be played Tuesday night at Germain Arena in Estero, Florida. Notes: South Carolinaâs center Travis Morin and defensemen Nate Kiser and Josh Godfrey did not dress for the game. South Carolina team officials have been tight-lipped on when and if the three South Carolina mainstays will return. Meanwhile Gajic continues a gutsy performance on what appears to be a bad knee. The forward appears to be in pain but continues to play a regular shift and is very much a key contributor to his team. A clearly upset Florida coach Malcolm Cameron closed his locker room after the game. Neither Cameron nor any of his players would discuss the game with the media.
Contact the author at Phil.Brand@prohockeynews.com
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