Photo Courtesy of the Florida Everblades [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/5b6f4031-0587-409e-a394-1f0a79589ba1.jpeg] Photo Courtesy of the Florida Everblades In each of their three consecutive Kelly Cup Championship seasons, the Florida Everblades have had to contend with their in-state rival, the Jacksonville Icemen. In each instance, the Everblades advanced with a series sweep. This post-season was no different. The Everblades [https://www.floridaeverblades.com/]moved one step closer to a fourth straight Cup by sweeping the Icemen [https://jacksonvilleicemen.com/]once again. A 4-3 overtime victory Thursday ensured their spot in the South Division Finals as they await the winner of the South Carolina-Orlando series. Florida moves on to the South Division Finals. All four games ended up being decided in overtime. On Thursday, it was Logan Lambdin who provided the heroics, firing in a missile from the low slot at 12:02 to secure the sweep. For the first time in the series, the Icemen scored first. Logan Cockerill notched his second goal of the playoffs just 3:47 into the game. Kyle Betts made sure that lead didn’t last too long, taking a feed from Oliver Chau and putting in a shot from inside the left circle with 19.3 seconds left on the clock to tie the score 1-1. Lambdin also picked up an assist on Betts’ second goal of the post-season. Cole Moberg put the Everblades in the lead just over five minutes into the middle frame, rifling in a shot from the right point that deflected off a Jacksonville defender and into the net, putting the Blades on top 2-1. Colton Hargrove doubled the Blades’ lead with his second goal in as many games from point-blank range with 1:52 left in the second period. Lambdin picked up another helper on the play with Dillon Hamaliuk tacking on a secondary assist. Desperately trying to prevent a sweep, the Icemen fought back. Shortly after what appeared to be a Florida goal that would have given the Everblades a three-goal lead was waved off, Christopher Brown trimmed the margin to 3-2 with his first goal of the playoffs at the 12:20 mark. Jacksonville pulled their goaltender in favor of an extra skater, and Cockerill’s second goal of the game tied the score 3-3 at 18:13, sending the teams to a fourth consecutive overtime. Florida had numerous chances to put the game away until Lambdin finally broke through at the 12:02 mark on a power play. The Everblades outshot Jacksonville 36-21 through regulation and 47-28 through overtime. Everblades goaltender Cam Johnson turned aside 25 of 28 shots and factored in all four wins during the series. Justen Close made 43 saves and suffered the season-ending loss for the Icemen. Other results from Thursday night’s playoff action: STINGRAYS EVEN SERIES WITH ORLANDO Charlie Combs scored 10 minutes into overtime to lead the South Carolina Stingrays [https://stingrayshockey.com/]to a 4-3 victory over the Orlando Solar Bears [https://orlandosolarbearshockey.com/]at the Kia Center. It was Combs’ second game-winner of the series, giving the Rays a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven South Division Semifinals. Erik Middendorf tallied two goals for the Stingrays, while Alexander Suzdalev and Combs each had a goal. The game went back and forth until Alex Frye tied the score 3-3 with five minutes remaining in the third period, sending the game into overtime. Combs netted his game-winner 10 minutes into the extra frame, wrapping around from behind the Orlando net and going bar down on goaltender Jon Gillies. Seth Eisele earned the win in his professional post-season debut, stopping 41 of 44 shots. The two teams head back to North Charleston Arena for Game 6 Sunday, with puck drop set for 6:05 Pm ET. IOWA DOMINATES KOMETS TO TAKE LEAD IN SERIES The Heartlanders [https://iowaheartlanders.com/]took a 3-2 lead in their best-of-seven Central division Semifinals series with a 5-2 win over the Fort Wayne Komets [https://komets.com/]at Xtream Arena. A total of 10 Iowa skaters picked up points, while goaltender William Rousseau made 34 saves. Keltie Jeri-Leon tallied two goals to lead the Heartlanders with four in the playoffs. A scary moment occurred for the Komets late in the game. During a scramble for the puck in the Fort Wayne zone, forward Odeen Tufto went down in pain, grabbing his left leg and calling for help from the bench. He was tended to by paramedics and taken to a local hospital, and the game resumed after a 15-minute delay. Komets head coach Jesse Kallechy didn’t have an update on Tufto’s condition following the game, but here’s hoping the former Heartlander makes a full and speedy recovery. Game 6 is Sunday in Fort Wayne, with puck drop scheduled for 5:05 Pm ET. MAVERICKS BLANK OILERS FOR 3-1 LEAD IN MOUNTAIN DIVISION SEMIFINALS Marcus Crawford scored his second game-winning goal of the post-season for the Kansas City Mavericks [https://kcmavericks.com/], while goaltender Jack LaFontaine stopped all 29 shots he faced for his third win of the series in a 2-0 win over the Tulsa Oilers. Crawford put in a wrister through traffic 8:54 into the opening period. Justin Macpherson sent a similar wrist shot past Oilers netminder Talyn Boyko at the 8:36 mark of the third period to close out the scoring. Game 5 is Friday at the BOK Center in Tulsa. Puck drop is set for 7:05 Pm CT.
