Estero, Florida – With a chance to end the series on home ice for the second day in a row, the Florida Everblades came at the short end of a 6-3 decision to the Jacksonville Icemen in Game Five of the South Division Finals Saturday night at Hertz Arena. The series will shift to Jacksonville for Game Six on Monday night, where the Everblades will have two opportunities to close out the series in North Florida.
This was the second consecutive match that Everblades were unable to play a lead.
A crowded, penalty-free first period saw Jacksonville lead 2-1 after 20 minutes. Chris Martin scored the first goal for the Icemen just 11 seconds into the contest, but Everblades leveled the score halfway through the period. John McCarron kicked Lefko Cooper on one pass from the right circle to lead the game at 1-1 with his third goal of the playoffs at 9:12. Oliver Chow also added an assist. Unfortunately for the home team, Jacksonville retook the lead on a Derek Lowdermeyer goal at 10:08 to take a 2-1 lead into the second period.
It took less than four minutes halfway through the first half for Everblades to make it 2-2. With the first power-play opportunity enjoyed by either team poised to expire, Zhao fired a holeshot that Ben Masella fielded on his third save to revive. But in the last minute of the second period, Jacksonville’s Brendan Harris restored the visitors’ lead 3-2 on the Icemen’s first chance of the night.
Just a minute into the third period, Jacksonville’s lead grew to 4-2 on Laudermeyer’s second goal of the contest. Christopher Brown made it 5-2 with a goal at the 8:50 mark.
The Everblades pulled home twice, with Zhao scoring his second power play goal of the night 12:19, cutting the Icemen’s lead to 5-3 with their fourth qualifier. Macaron picked up the assist to get his second point of the night. Brown added a goal from the net for Ayman, 64 seconds before the end of the scoring.
Thanks to Chau, who had two solid goals and three points in the game, Florida was 2-for-4 on the power play, while Jacksonville was 1-for-2.
Cam Johnson’s 16 saves saw his playoff record fall to 7-3-1, while Parker Gahagen made 32 saves and improved to 2-1, making him the third goaltender to record two playoff wins this season with an icemen. The Everblades edged out on the ice 35-22.
The series returns to Jacksonville with the Everblades having two chances to win game one in order to move on to the best-of-seven Eastern Conference Finals against the Newfoundland Growlers. Game six is scheduled for Monday night at 7:00 p.m., while a potential game seven will be played on Tuesday night at the same time.
Florida leads the series 3-2
Game 1 – FLORIDA 5 at Jacksonville 2
Game 2 – FLORIDA 4 in Jacksonville 3
Game 3 – Jacksonville 0 at FLORIDA 2
Game 4 – Jacksonville 4 in Florida 3 (extra time)
Game 5 – Jacksonville 6 in Florida 3
Game 6 – Monday, May 15th at 7 p.m. ET in Jacksonville
Game 7 – Tuesday, May 16 at 7 p.m. ET in Jacksonville (if required)
With the launch of the Florida Everblades
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