Matt Register burned the South Carolina Stingrays on the seventh power play chance for the Colorado Eagles. His slapshot found its way through traffic and behind Parker Milner to give Colorado a 3-2 win and a 1-0 series lead in the Kelly Cup Finals.
Colorado forced overtime with two seconds left on the clock on a shot from Matt Garbowsky, his second goal of the game. Milner made a few big stops while Colorado had the extra attacker, but missed on the last chance.
The Stingrays and Eagles met for the first time in their franchise histories in the regular season, and now meet for the first time in the playoffs.
South Carolina went 0-for-7 on the power play, while going 6-for-7 on the penalty kill.
Domenic Monardo led the Stingrays with eight shots on goal out of the team’s 34.
Lukas Hafner started for the home team, even though backup Kent Simpson was in net to close out the series with Toledo. Hafner stopped 32 shots in the win.
Both teams entered overtime undefeated in the Kelly Cup Playoffs, with South Carolina needing double overtime each time and Colorado going to a playoff-most four overtimes in the first three rounds.
Game two is slated for Sunday night from Budweiser Events Center in Loveland, Colorado.
Milner made 43 saves in the 90 minute game, including 11 over the two extra frames.
Matt Garbowsky grabbed the first goal after a failed power play. The Stingrays never got all of their penalty killers off the ice with the Eagles pressing. Garbowsky followed a shot and hammered the rebound past Milner.
South Carolina needed one good shift to tie the game in the second period. They got it from a mismatched line of Joe Devin, Olivier Archambault, and Scott Tanski.
Marcus Perrier, the extra forward who often slots as a defender, got his second of two big shots on the shift to find the net. It took a deflection from Tanski, his first point of the playoffs, along the way to beat Hafner.
It took until the second intermission for the off-ice officials to change the goal from Perrier to Tanski.
South Carolina gave Colorado numerous chances to take a lead on the power play in the third period. John Parker and Rob Flick were stuck in the box for 54 seconds, and the Stingrays killed it off.
South Carolina forward Steven McParland was open seven feet from the crease. Derek Arnold had the puck on the right side, and the Colorado Eagles defense had all eyes on him. McParland tapped the pass behind Hafner for South Carolina’s first lead of the game.
South Carolina played their strongest period of the game in the first overtime. Neither team scored, marking the 12th time in Riley/Kelly Cup history to go to multiple overtimes.
The Washington Capitals media team gave the Stingrays the big-league treatment by putting the game on Caps Radio 24/7. The video stream on Monumental Network’s website, normally available by subscription, was made free as part of Memorial Day weekend.
Matt Register with the GWG in 2OT for @ColoradoEagles who take a 1-0 series lead on @SCStingrays in #KellyCupFinals – Game 2 Sunday night! pic.twitter.com/aW7VstXQjn
— ECHL (@ECHL) May 27, 2017
