Blades top Stingrays 2-0
Entering this weekend’s two games against the South Carolina Stingrays at Germain Arena, the Florida Everblades weren’t facing must-win situations, but they were facing a need-to-win situation against a divisional foe who entered the weekend four points ahead of the Everblades in the standings.
“There has to be (a sense of urgency),” said Blades coach Greg Poss after Friday night’s loss. “We’ve been saying it for the last six weeks. The players are aware of the situation.”
Along with that sense of urgency, Poss emphasized the current dynamic of the team had changed from the fast-paced, high-scoring one to one where the players had to learn how to play a patient, defensive style of hockey.
Fortunately, the team got the message as both a sense of urgency and the grind-it-out style of defensive hockey the team must now play to make the playoffs materialized in Saturday’s 2-0 win over South Carolina.
“That is how we have to play right now,” said Poss. “We have to play defense, we have to slow the game down.”
“We were a run-and-gun team with the most goals in the league, but because of call-ups and injuries we have to play defense first, chip (the puck) in, wait for our chances and be real patient.”
Patience was the key Saturday night.
The Stingrays and Blades skated through a scoreless contest for more than the first 57 minutes of hockey before defenseman Bobby Raymond took a pass from Alexandre Imbeault, firing the puck into the far corner of the net to put the Blades up 1-0.
Mike McKenzie added an empty netter with 35 seconds to play, and the Blades left the weekend trailing the Stingrays by the same margin as when they came to town four points.
On the defensive side, goaltender Bobby Goepfert led the way, stopping all of the 28 shots he faced. As a team, the defensive highlight came in the second period where the Blades held South Carolina to only six shots for the frame.
“After (Friday’s) game, we didn’t have a lot of confidence,” said Poss. “We needed this win, but this is the way we have to learn how to play right now, because we are missing a lot of our offensive punch. We have to morph into a different kind of team, a defensive minded team, if we want to make the playoffs, and we have to get our confidence back slowly.”