GLENS FALLS, NY – Throughout the regular season, the South Carolina Stingrays carried a reputation as a team that could put on an offensive display at the drop of a hat. Thursday night at the Glens Falls Civic Center, the Adirondack Thunder saw just how devastating the Stingrays could be.Joe Devin scored twice and added an assist to lead nine different players on the scoresheet as South Carolina blasted Adirondack 6-0 in front of an announced crowd of 2,110. Goalie Mark Dekanich made 30 saves to record his second shutout in three games to allow the Stingrays to even the best-of-seven Series at two wins each heading into game five on Saturday.
Kelly Zajac, brother of NHL star Travis Zajac, Caleb Herbert and rookie Colton Saucerman each recorded a goal and an assist in the contest while Spencer Humphries and Derek DeBlois contributed two helpers apiece. South Carolina’s special teams also layer a key role as the power play connected for three goal and the penalty killers blanked Adirondack on ten chances in the game.
South Carolina stunned the Thunder just a minute into the opening period when Austin Fyten fed Herbert who skated into the slot area and put the puck between the legs of Adirondack goalie Ken Appleby for his sixth goal of the playoffs. As it turned out, it would be the game-winning goal thanks to Dekanich who was dialed in just as he was in game two.
The game nearly took a nasty turn three minutes later when Thunder power forward Mitchell Heard drove toward the Stingrays net. He ended up off-balance and crashed into Dekanich who fell hard on his back. Both players got up very slowly and stayed in the game although Heard was sent off for interference on the goalie.
That South Carolina man advantage did not connect but the next one did. With Ryan Lomberg in the penalty box, Zajac grabbed the puck below the goal line and walked out far enough to roof a shot off the bottom of the crossbar and in for his second goal of the post-season.
A late penalty to Humphries in the first period carried over to the start of the second. Little did the Thunder know that the Stingrays were not even close to calling off the dogs. Late in the penalty kill, a defenseman fell down at the point, allowing Devin to break in all alone and he beat Appleby low to the stick side at the 1:21 mark to push the lead to 3-0.
Moments later, Dekanich showed a quick glove hand in denying Adirondack sniper Peter MacArthur of a goal. It was just one of multiple key saves he made over the course of the middle frame. The Thunder took twelve shots at Dekanich in the period but remained frustrated as the North Vancouver, British Columbia native turned them all away.
The Stingrays continued to create problems for Appleby late in the stanza on the power play. At the 12:29 mark with Patch Alber serving a tripping penalty, Saucerman – who was celebrating his 24th birthday – nailed a one-time blast off a feed from Humphries to net his first professional playoff tally. Five minutes later, Stephan Vigier cleaned up the rebound of a Zajac shot for his second of the playoffs to make it 5-0.
Adirondack head coach Cail MacLean replaced Appleby with Drew Fielding to start the third period but even he was not immune to the Stingrays offense. It took just 2:18 for the visitors to score when Nick D’Agostino sent Devin away on an odd-man rush. Rather than make a pass, he decided to shoot and ripped it over Fielding’s catching glove for his second of the night and the Stingrays sixth and final score.
The rest of the night belonged to Dekanich, who was steady throughout. As Adirondack’s frustration with not scoring grew, the animosity between the teams went off the charts. Between them, the Thunder and Stingrays combined for 78 penalty minutes in the final frame, 50 of those coming in the final thirty seconds of the contest when South Carolina enforcer Trevor Gillies engaged Lomberg who had cross-checked another Stingrays player before Humphries and Adirondack’s Ryan Constant fought.
Despite recording just 22 shots in the game, the Stingrays made the most of the chances they got. South Carolina went 3-for-4 on the power play and added Devin’s short-handed tally to the list. Adirondack’s goose egg on the man advantage was a key factor, especially the failure to score on three separate five-on-three chances that went more than three minutes in total length.
After a day off on Friday, the teams will meet one more time in Glens Falls on Saturday at 7 pm before the series returns to North Charleston for game six next Tuesday and a possible game seven next Wednesday.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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