Blades dump Walleye 4-3 in shootout
It took regulation, overtime and more, but the Florida Everblades outlasted a pesky Toledo Walleye team 4-3 in a shootout Friday night at Germain Arena.
“I knew (Toledo) was going to come out determined after Wednesday night,” said Blades coach Malcolm Cameron. “They were beating us to a lot of lose pucks early and winning the battles They got us on our heels early, but getting that goal on the end (of the first period) and the big fight by McJannet really helped us going into the second period.”
Toledo got on the scoreboard first when Adam Hobson beat Blades goaltender Barry Brust (33 saves) with just over a minute to play in the opening period.
Florida (6-5-2) answered quickly when Ryan Lang tied it up with less than 10 seconds to play in the period, his second goal of the season. Seconds later, Steve McJannet took down Toledo’s Malcolm MacMillan putting the crowd on its feet and giving Florida momentum heading into the second period.
Despite the early momentum the second belonged to the Walleye, who scored the only goal on a power play to carry a 2-1 lead into intermission.
“(That) was a mistake we can correct,” said Cameron. “They scored in the last 10 seconds of a 5-on-3 and we had a chance to clear that puck. We clear that puck and they don’t score.”
The third looked to be all Florida until the last three minutes.
The Blades jumped on the Walleye early. The relentless pressure finally got to netminder Alec Richards (22 saves) when A.J. Thelen fired a rifle shot from the blue line to tie it for the Blades. The home team kept the pressure on and Rob Hennigar put the Blades in front just over a minute later by banking the puck off the back of a sprawling Richards trying to make the save.
It looked as if Florida would avoid overtime, but a late rush by Toledo got past Brust to force OT, which eventually led to the Blades winning a 2-1 shootout.
The Blades and Walleye skate for the final time this year on Saturday night at Germain Arena.