The Florida Everblades and Atlanta Gladiators were polar opposites during the regular season.
One led the league in winning percentage and had a plus-90 scoring differential. The other limped its way into the playoffs with a sub-.500 winning percentage and had a minus-24 scoring differential.
However, when Game 1 of the Kelly Cup Playoffs began, the No. 1-seeded Everblades and No. 8-seeded Gladiators appeared to be evenly matched until Florida pulled away to a 4-1 victory in the third period at Germain Arena on Monday night.
“Our guys stayed the course,” Florida coach Brad Ralph said. “You know its going to be a 60-minute effort. It’s going to be wire-to-wire. We were fortunate we got a few bounces.”
“We gave ourselves a chance,” Atlanta coach Chuck Weber said. “1-1 going into the third is how we have to play it; keep things tight and then take advantage of our opportunities.”
Game 2 is Tuesday at Germain Arena at 7:30 p.m.
Florida capped off its best regular season finish in franchise history and concluded with a 10-game winning streak. However, the Blades had significant time to cool off from their hot finish. While the Kelly Cup Playoffs began last Thursday, the Everblades-Gladiators series experienced a nine-day layover between their regular season finales and the opening game of their playoff matchup.
“We finished the year with four games in five nights, so (the layover) gave us time to get some much-needed rest,” Ralph said. “We were dealing with some injuries, so it gave those guys a couple more days to recover. We stressed conditioning and compete throughout those nine days and the guys responded really well today.”
“We’re banged up and we’ve got a lot of guys playing hurt right now, so it gave our guys a chance to heal,” Weber said.
The South Division foes grinded their way to a 1-1 tie with goals from Florida’s Brett Bulmer and Atlanta’s Alex Rauter to conclude the second period. However, Florida forward Mitchell Heard ended the stalemate with a timely third-period goal.
“Our goal was to get pucks deep and possess the puck down low, and we did that,” Ralph said. “We need to get a little more traffic on their goaltender and shoot pucks, but we played a well-structured game.”
“We played a simple game for the most part,” Weber said. “When we played simple, we got pucks behind the defense. We were effective. We chased the game and struggled on face-offs a little bit early in the game, but we got better as it went on.”
Despite, Florida’s dominance in shots on goal, it was anyone’s game midway through the third period. However, Blades forward John McCarron ended any hope of a comeback with a goal off a one-timer from Spencer Smallman.
“We had some guys dig deep,” Ralph said. “McCarron had a lot of face-off wins, and we had some great one-on-one battle on the penalty kill.”
Florida, backstopped by veteran netminder Martin Ouellette, staved off a 6-on-4 situation after committing a penalty with under four minutes remaining in regulation to preserve its two-goal lead.
“You want to come down and get a split,” Weber said. “You want to win Game 1, but now the biggest thing we have to do is get a split. Whether we lost this game 1-0 or 4-1, it doesn’t change anything. We lost the first game and now we have to move on to Game 2.”
EVERBLADES 4, GLADIATORS 1
Atlanta 0 1 0 - 1
Florida 0 1 3 - 4
1st Period- No Scoring. Penalties-Pierog Atl (hooking), 2:01; Bulmer Fla (roughing), 11:15.
2nd Period-1, Florida, Bulmer 1 (Heard, Kirkpatrick), 7:35. 2, Atlanta, Rauter 1 (Stefishen, Pond), 18:33 (PP). Penalties-Stefishen Atl (slashing), 5:31; Roe Fla (slashing), 9:22; Seymour Fla (high-sticking), 11:42; Lane Atl (roughing), 12:27; Kirkpatrick Fla (boarding), 17:50; Vail Atl (roughing), 19:06.
3rd Period-3, Florida, Heard 1 (Kirkpatrick, Seymour), 8:24. 4, Florida, McCarron 1 (Smallman), 14:39 (SH). 5, Florida, Kirkpatrick 1 (Heard, Cox), 19:31 (EN). Penalties-Pond Atl (slashing), 3:57; Vail Atl (high-sticking), 10:04; Kirkpatrick Fla (tripping), 14:00; Kea Fla (interference on the goalkeeper), 16:08; Stefishen Atl (slashing), 17:33; Young Fla (slashing), 17:33.
Shots on Goal-Atlanta 9-9-3-21. Florida 13-18-18-49.
Power Play Opportunities-Atlanta 1 / 6; Florida 0 / 6.
Goalies-Atlanta, Vladar (48 shots-45 saves). Florida, Ouellette (21 shots-20 saves).
A-2,883
Referees-Alex Normandin (26), Jonathan Sitarski (23).
Linesmen-Logan Bellgraph (85), James Johnstone (37).
South Division semifinals
Florida 1, Atlanta 0
Monday: Florida 4, Atlanta 1
Tuesday: Atlanta at Florida, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday: Florida at Atlanta, 7:35 p.m.
Friday: Florida at Atlanta, 7:35 p.m.
x-Sunday: Florida at Atlanta, 2:05 p.m.
x-Tuesday, April 24: Atlanta at Florida, 7:30 p.m.
x-Wednesday, April 25: Atlanta at Florida, 7:30 p.m.
x-if necessary