via the Stingrays
Levko Koper had a Stingray draped on him as he broke free in the in the offensive zone, aiming for the empty net. Koper’s shot found its mark, and hats rained on the ice.
With a 5-2 win, the Florida Everblades tied up the South Division Finals series in the Kelly Cup Playoffs at one game a piece. Games three and four will come to the North Charleston Coliseum.
Once the puck dropped, Mitchell Heard and Domenic Monardo sparked a line brawl. With Monardo trying to defend himself and the linesmen in between the two, Andrew Cherniwchan jumped in to help his teammate. Once Heard threw punches at Cherniwchan, everyone grabbed a partner. Dalton Smith threw Rob Flick to the ice late in the fracas. Matt Berry got a penalty despite not being on the ice.
A South Carolina power-play resulted from the opening faceoff dust up one second into the game.
The Stingrays squandered the early advantage. Matt Hatch and Levko Koper capitalized on a bouncing pucks in front of Parker Milner for the early two-goal lead.
Koper scored again a few minutes later. With only Marcus Perrier back on defense and taking away the pass, Koper picked out the hole in Milner’s net coverage. Stingrays head coach Ryan Warsofsky used his timeout to settle the pace of the game.
Logan Roe took a cross-checking penalty behind the play late in the period, and Warsfosky threw out five forwards to maximize his team’s chances of getting on the board. Steven McParland kept the puck alive and away from the Everblades off the opening faceoff, leaving for Cherniwchan to pick out the top right corner.
In the second period, Cherniwchan picked out the opposite corner on Alex Nedeljkovic to make it a one-goal contest.
Brendan O’Donnell, the leading scorer of the playoffs for Florida, scored a slide-in goal on the power-play early in the third to restore the two-goal lead.
Game two marked the first time since game one of the Greenville series where South Carolina allowed a power-play goal.
Following Koper’s empty-net goal, Perrier and Heard pummelled each other in a fight off the faceoff. Heard lost his helmet and jersey as Perrier wailed away with both the left and the right hand. Heard scored the takedown, hit a few extra punches with Perrier on the ice, then skated off and pumped up the crowd on his way to an early end to his game. Perrier got an additional abuse of officials penalty, in his first game back from suspension.
Smith and Flick renewed pleasantries at the same time, and were also thrown from the game. Cody Corbett yelled at the officials a little too much, resulting in a late penalty kill for South Carolina.
Cherniwchan and Stephen MacAulay both took unsportsmanlike conduct penalties shortly after play restarted.
Milner finished with 17 saves on 21 shots, and Nedeljkovic saved 21 shots.
