Everblades win series opener 5-3
The Florida Everblades got off to the start they wanted in their best-of-seven American Conference playoff series, winning 5-3 over the Gwinnett Gladiators Friday night at Germain Arena.
The Blades started with two goals in the opening period. Doug O’Brien was the first Blade to score in just under six minutes, on a power play. Peter Metcalf’s rifle shot from the blue line caromed off Gladiator net minder Joe Fallon (21 saves) right to O’Brien’s waiting stick for the goal.
Ross Carlson made it 2-0 off a Mattieu Roy feed from the left circle.
“We had a great first period,” said Blades coach Malcolm Cameron. “Then we got a little undisciplined there in the second period.”
Florida kept the pressure on Gwinnett until Dominic D’Amour took an interference call, giving the Gladiators a power play. It started a temporary collapse by the Blades. Gwinnett scored three power-play goals against goaltender David Leggio (16 saves) over a 12-minute stretch during which the Blades were penalized a total of 10 minutes.
“It’s a fine line – emotional hockey,” said Cameron. “And that’s what happened. That’s what allowed them to get back into the hockey game-when we had full control of it. We were letting them retaliate and get frustrated, then they did the same thing to us in the second period and took advantage of it.”
In the waning minutes of the second period, they regained their composure. Jacob Micflikier scored to tie the game at 3-3, then Mark Lee put the Blades up for good on a buzzer-beater off an Earnie Hartlieb pass.
“That’s us, we’ve done that all year. We’ve had the ability to score quickly all year,” said Cameron.
Florida took no more penalties until the game was already in hand after Andrew Sweetland scored the fifth and final goal midway in the final period. The Blades’ defense did the rest, holding the Gladiators to a paltry three shots over the final 20 minutes.
“Gwinnett is a hard-working team and they battled hard,” Cameron said. “We said the key to this series was staying out of the penalty box and not giving up power-play goals, and we have to do a better job of that tomorrow night.”
The Everblades carry a 1-0 lead in the series into Saturday’s Game 2 with the Gladiators at Germain Arena.