The Florida Everblades needed a win Wednesday to keep the Trois-Rivieres Lions from going up 3-0 in the Kelly Cup Eastern Conference Finals.
After 40 minutes, it didn’t look like they would get it. But a four-goal explosion in the third period completely turned the game on its head, giving Florida a 4-2 victory at Colisee Videotron.
Alex Kile led the offense, turning in a four-point performance with two goals and two assists, while Colton Hargrove notched two points with the game-winning goal and an assist.
It appeared as if the Everblades had taken a 1-0 lead at 9:59 of the opening frame on a Kyle Betts power-play goal. However, the goal was disallowed after a lengthy video review for goalie interference on Lions netminder Luke Cavallin.
The Lions took full advantage, as Anthony Beauregard finished off a Jakov Novak setup with just three seconds remaining to give the Lions a 1–0 lead.
Florida came out strong again to start the second period, pushing for the equalizer, but were unable to solve Cavallin.
Midway through the frame, Tyler Hylland doubled the Lions’ lead with a power-play goal at 9:39, only the second allowed by Florida during the entire post-season. It was the first multi-goal lead by either team in the series.
Then, the tide turned.
A power-play goal by Kile got the Everblades on the board just over five minutes into the final frame to cut the Trois-Rivieres lead to 2-1.
Betts scored the equalizer (this one counted) at the 16:26 mark, tying the game at 2-2 and giving the Blades new life.
That set the stage for Hargrove’s game-winner, which came with 1:53 to play and gave the Everblades a 3-2 lead. Kile notched an empty-net goal for his second tally of the contest in the final minute to close out the come-from-behind 4-2 victory.
The Everblades once again dominated the shot count for the third time in the series. They outshot the Lions 41-18 for the game, including a whopping 21-3 edge in the final period.
Florida goaltender Cam Johnson was perfect over the game’s final 30 minutes, ending the night with 16 saves.
Game 4 will take place Friday night in Trois-Rivières, with puck drop set for 7 Pm ET. Game 5 will follow on Saturday, with puck drop scheduled for 3 Pm ET.