Going into Last Night With High Hopes:
Everyone who is rooting for the Florida Everblades in the second round was hoping that they would end the series in game five last night without needing a sixth or seventh game in Jacksonville. Unfortunately, the Icemen pull off a whopping 6-2 victory. Although a lot went wrong last night, the Everblades have been playing incredibly well during this year’s postseason, and it is very possible that we could potentially see a rematch of last year’s Eastern Conference Finals and Kelly Cup Finals. They have to play at their best and give it their all on Monday.
First Period Frenzy:
The game didn’t start or end in Florida’s favor. During the first period, the Icemen struck first just 11 seconds after the opening draw as Craig Martin opened up the scoring 11 seconds in. John McCarron tied up the game on a one-timer at the 9:12 mark, but the Icemen would respond quickly as Dereck Lodermeier would score just 1:06 after the McCarron goal to give the Icemen a lead after the first period.
Third Period Freakout:
Each team exchanged goals in the second as the Icemen would hold on to their one-goal lead heading into the third. Florida’s Oliver Chau and Ben Masella collaborated on a power play for the first goal. Brendan Harris also scored a power-play goal for Jacksonville, with Luke Lynch and Craig Martin providing the assists. By the end of the second period, the Icemen’s lead was only one. Early in the third period, Derek Lodermeier scored the game-winning goal early in the final period. Soon after, Christopher Brown would score an insurance goal for them. With assistance from John McCarron, Oliver Chau scored Florida’s last goal, which was his second power-play goal of the night.
Looking Forward, Moving Forward:
The Icemen seem to have had a wake-up call last night as they really stepped up their game and pushed the Everblades hard. Although the past two games did not go the Everblades’ way, they still just need one more win to finish the series and advance. They can do this either on Monday or Tuesday of this coming week. However, if Jacksonville wins game 6, it’ll be much harder on Florida.
What Can the Everblades do to Finish Out the Series on Top?
The defending champs of the Kelly Cup only need one more win they could grab on Monday evening. However, the Icemen have only recently shown their resiliency as they have won the last two games. Last night, the ‘Blades outshot the Icemen 35-22. In their game on May 10th, the Everblades shutout the Icemen 2-0 but were outshot 26-22. They need to quickly get off shots when open as well as working on transitioning and getting back on defense faster and more aggressively, as well as apply much more pressure on the players with puck possession.
The Everblades play Monday in Jacksonville at 7 P.M. EST
As well as on Tuesday, if necessary at 7 P.M. EST
