The Florida Everblades had blown a second-period lead Sunday and were 15 minutes away from dropping the first two games of the Kelly Cup Finals.
But Stephen MacAulay tied it with 13:41 left, then Mitchell Heard made a steal and scored with 36 seconds remaining to give Florida a 4-3 victory over the Colorado Eagles at the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland, Colorado.
"Definitely a great feeling to get the goal at the end there," Heard said. "To walk the D-man in and put it home, it's a great feeling."
"Our guys showed a lot of heart, Heardy in particular," Blades coach Brad Ralph said. "We fought for every inch on that ice. Heardy came up with just a beautiful goal. There were a number of guys that contributed on that particular goal, but what a beautiful goal. That's a highlight-reel, career goal."
Games 3, 4 and 5 will be at Germain Arena on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights.
"Couldn't be prouder of our group," Ralph said. "We stuck to the game plan.Once we got through some of the penalty kill, everyone contributed in different ways tonight.
"It was a great team effort. It's the way we can play. It's the way we're going to have to keep playing moving forward."
Florida played without top points scorer Michael Kirkpatrick, who was leveled by a hit in Game 1 that led to a fight-filled final minute in the Blades' 3-1 loss on Friday.
Sunday didn't start much better. Jake Marto scored just three seconds into a power play late in the first to give the defending Kelly Cup champion Eagles a 1-0 lead.
But the Blades battled back, scoring on their own power play on a Sam Warning goal with an assist from Zack Kamrass 2:01 into the second. Just over five minutes later, Matt Mackenzie gave Florida its first lead of the series on another power-play goal off assists from Heard and Joe Cox.
"We came out hard, worked hard, stayed poised," Heard said. "We did all of the little things. Our structure was second to none."
Colorado tied it in the final five minutes of the second on a power-play goal from J.C. Beaudin, then Marto gave the Eagles the lead with 14:36 to go.
Martin Ouellette made 22 saves to pick up the win.
"We've stayed in the moment," Heard said. "That's why we're here. We're so deep. We've got three lines. from the back end, to the goaltending, it's unbelievable. That's why we're here and that's what we're going to continue to do."
Now Florida, in search of its second Kelly Cup in seven years, has made it a best-of-five series with up to four of those games at Germain Arena.
"We come in tied up," Heard said. "We've got some games at home. We're going to feed off our crowd now and see how they respond. It's going to be a battle."
EVERBLADES 4, EAGLES 3
Florida 0 2 2 - 4
Colorado 1 1 1 - 3
1st Period-1, Colorado, Marto 5 17:09 (PP). Penalties-Dziurzynski Fla (kneeing), 9:47; St-Amant Col (slashing), 10:42; Lorentz Fla (cross-checking), 15:23; McCarron Fla (roughing), 17:06; Seymour Fla (roughing), 17:06; Bowman Col (roughing), 17:06; Bowman Col (tripping), 18:31.
2nd Period-2, Florida, Warning 5 (Kamrass), 2:01 (PP). 3, Florida, Mackenzie 2 (Heard, Cox), 7:11 (PP). 4, Colorado, Beaudin 9 (Joly, Register), 15:37 (PP). Penalties-Meloche Col (roughing), 0:43; Olsen Col (cross-checking), 5:45; McCarron Fla (cross-checking), 8:59; Olsen Col (boarding), 8:59; Sheppard Fla (unsportsmanlike conduct), 10:00; Meloche Col (unsportsmanlike conduct), 10:00; McCarron Fla (slashing), 13:55; Kamrass Fla (tripping), 14:55; Barron Col (hooking), 18:49.
3rd Period-5, Colorado, Marto 6 (Garbowsky), 5:24. 6, Florida, MacAulay 2 (Kamrass, Seymour), 6:19. 7, Florida, Heard 7 19:24. Penalties-Olsen Col (boarding), 6:55.
Shots on Goal-Florida 8-11-12-31. Colorado 8-11-6-25.
Power Play Opportunities-Florida 2 / 6; Colorado 2 / 5.
Goalies-Florida, Ouellette (25 shots-22 saves). Colorado, Cannata (31 shots-27 saves).
A-5,289
Referees-Tyler Puddifant (28), Stephen Thomson (27).
Linesmen-Patrick Richardson (82), Chris Wilson (88).
Kelly Cup Finals
(Best-of-7; x-if necessary)
Florida 1, Colorado 1
Friday, May 25: Colorado 3, Florida 1
Sunday, May 27: Florida 4, Colorado 3
Wednesday, May 30: Colorado at Florida, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, June 1: Colorado at Florida, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, June 2: Colorado at Florida, 7 p.m.
x-Wednesday, June 6: Florida at Colorado, 9:05 p.m.
x-Saturday, June 9: Colorado at Florida, 7:00 p.m.