WHEELING, WV – When faced with tight situations, there is nothing like having prior experience to help with figuring out how to get a job done. When it comes to getting to the ECHL’s Kelly Cup finals series, the Sourh Carolina Stingrays have last year’s trip to learn from and that knowledge has gotten them to within one game of a return trip.
David Pacan broke a tie with 7:17 left in the third period and goalie Vitek Vanecek made 27 saves as the Stingrays downed the Wheeling Nailers 3-1 in front of an announced crowd of 3,181 at the WesBanco Arena in Wheeling Saturday night. With the win, South Carolina heads back home with a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern conference finals series and two chances to earn a second straight berth in the league championship series.
Game six is set for Monday night at the North Charleston Coliseum.
Saturday’s win was a near carbon copy of Friday’s victory as the Stingrays fell behind before storming back with three unanswered goals. Again it was the third period dominance of the veteran South Carolina team that came to the fore as the visitors scored twice in the final eight minutes of regulation to snatch the triumph.
Playing its final home game of the series, Wheeling certainly did not want to disappoint its fans nor did interim head coach Jeff Christian’s troops want to feel the pressure of having to win two more times on enemy ice.
The Nailers came out in the first period with intentions of rattling the Stingrays and Vanecek. Wheeling recorded the first five shots of the game but South Carolina’s netminder stood tall, knocking away every attempt.
The first trouble spot for the home team came just shy of eight minutes into the opening frame when overlapping penalties to Brett Stern and Riley Brace left the Nailers short two men for a minute and a half. Led by goalie Brian Foster, who was making just his second start of the series, Wheeling killed the two penalties with relative ease.
Midway through the period, South Carolina’s Marcus Perrier went to the penalty box, giving the Nailers their first man advantage of the night. Just twenty seconds into the power play, Jarrett Burton sent the puck back to Mathew Maione at the blueline. Maione drifted to the middle of the ice and fired a shot that Cody Wydo redirected past Vanecek for his seventh playoff goal. It was also the first time in the series that Wheeling had scored first.
Wheeling carried that one-goal lead into the second period and had an opportunity to extend the lead with its third man advantage of the night when Trevor Gillies was called for elbowing. The Nailers failed to take advantage (they would fail on a fourth attempt later in the frame) and it would come back to haunt them.
At the 8:57 mark of the period, South Carolina’s Bobby Shea and Wheeling’s John McCarron got into a disagreement that ended with both in the box. McCarron picked up an extra penalty that put the Stingrays on the power play. The visitors took full advantage when Kelly Zajac won an offensive zone face-off back to rookie defenseman Colton Saucerman. Saucerman made a beeline for the slot and zipped a shot past Foster’s blocker glove for his second post-season tally and a tie score.
The Stingrays saw an opportunity and continued to pressure the Nailers defenders and Foster but the host team did not yield. As the game started opening up, both Foster and Vanecek were called on to make key saves to keep the score knotted at one heading to the final frame.
Sensing that the Nailers might be be back on their heels, the Stingrays stepped up their attack as the third period opened. They peppered Foster with shot after shot, piling up a 9-4 advantage by the ten minute mark of the stanza but Foster kept his opponents off the board.
Matching penalties to Wheeling’s James Melindy and South Carolina’s Brett Cameron created a four-on-four situation and more open ice for the players to work with. Late in the situation, Wheeling attempted to clear the puck and broke a player out to center ice. Unfortunately for the Nailers, the Stingrays’ Spencer Humphries intercepted the puck and quickly sent it to Austin Fyten on the left wing. Fyten sent the puck toward the top of the crease where Pacan put it past Foster for his third playoff tally and the lead.
South Carolina continued to look for an insurance score, turning up the heat but Foster continually said no to allowing another goal. He made a key save on Cameron with less than four minutes left in regulation – one of 14 saves he made in the period – to keep the Nailers in the contest.
With time running out, Christian pulled Foster with about 80 seconds left to get an extra attacker on the ice. The move failed when Stephan Vigier scored his fifth goal of the playoffs into the empty net with 1:01 to go to ice the win.
Foster played a strong game despite the loss, turning in a 35-save effort including 26 in the second and third periods combined. South Carolina finished the game with one goal in three power play opportunities while Wheeling scored once in four tries.
Both teams headed to their busses after the game to head back to North Charleston ahead of Monday’s elimination game. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:05 pm.
Contact the author at Don.money@prohockeynews.com
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