NORTH CHARLESTON, SC – When South Carolina Stingrays veteran goalie Mark Dekanich went down with an injury in game seven against Adirondack Wednesday night, everyone knew that rookie Vitek Vanecek was going to be called on to be the man. Friday night he proved that he is more than ready to take over the role.
Vanecek made 33 saves to earn his first career playoff shutout while his teammates scored three times in just over one period of play as South Carolina blanked the Wheeling Nailers 3-0 in game one of the Eastern conference finals at the North Charleston Coliseum. Game two of the best-of-seven series, which the Stingrays lead one game to none, is set for Saturday night in North Charleston.
Austin Fyten and Jared Staal scored in the first period before Bobby Shea lit the goal light before the middle frame was a minute old to stake Vanecek to a big lead. The 2014 NHL Draft second round pick of the Washington Capitals did the rest, following up his perfect relief effort in overtime on Wednesday with a sixty minute clean sheet Friday for his fourth win of the post-season.
With both teams coming off emotional overtime victories two nights earlier, no one was really sure which squad would have the most energy for the contest. Right away the Stingrays, who did not have to travel, came out trying to crowd the crease of Wheeling netminder Brian Foster in an attempt to rattle the goalie.
The game’s first power play went to Wheeling 4:38 into the opening frame but it was the short-handed Stingrays who took advantage of the situation. Seconds after the defensive zone face-off, South Carolina’s David Pacan and Fyten moved the puck into the Nailers end. As the three defenders backed in, Pacan fed the puck to Fyten who skated unchecked to the top of the right circle before unleashing a quick, hard wrist shot that beat Foster over the catching glove and under the crossbar for the Stingrays forward’s fifth playoff goal.
As the teams started to gain their skating legs, the goalies began to get busier. Vanecek saw the bulk of the rubber but most of the chances were kept to a less than dangerous nature by the South Carolina defense that came into the series with a team goals against average of just barely above two goals per game.
With a little under five minutes left before the first intermission, South Carolina got some pressure in the Nailers defensive zone and made it pay off. Stephan Vigier got ahold of the puck and sent it toward the front of the net where Fyten was battling a defender for position. Fyten was able to an open spot to Foster’s right where Staal got to it and chipped it over the goalie’s right leg pad for his first goal of the playoffs and a solid two goal lead for his team.
Late in the period, Wheeling’s Riley Brace and South Carolina’s Caleb Herbert were given matching unsportsmanlike conduct penalties for their bench-to-bench conversation. The carry-over four-on-four situation made for extra room on the ice, a factor that helped the Stingrays score their third goal of the game. Shea carried the puck into the Wheeling end and dropped a pass to Joe Devin before curling behind the net onto the backside of the play. The Nailers lost Shea long enough for Devin to spot him and get a cross-ice pass to Shea who drove it into the net 49 seconds into the second period. The goal was Shea’s first of the playoffs and put the Stingrays in a commanding spot up by three.
Wheeling had no choice but to try to open the game up. The strategy did help at times like when Brace got past the South Carolina defense for an opportunity but Vanecek made a glove save to deny Brace a goal. An ensuing man advantage failed to yield a momentum-building score, leaving the Nailers scoreless.
The visitors had two more power plays in the first half of the third period. Even though Wheeling had more shots get to the net, the Czech Republic-born Vanecek was more like a brick wall as nothing was getting past him. The Nailers got one final chance when South Carolina’s Trevor Gillies went to the penalty box with four minutes remaining but they failed to get a clean shot to score.
With the performance, Vanecek’s goals against average for the playoffs dropped to 1.63 while his save percentage rose to .941. Foster finished the contest with a respectable 26 saves on 29 shots faced but on this night that was not quite good enough. Neither team was successful on the power play as a Wheeling went 0-for-5 while a South Carolina was 0-for 2.
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