Estero, FL - The Florida Everblades, behind goaltender Craig Kowalski, earned their second straight shutout by stopping the Texas Wildcatters 5-0 in game 1 of the best-of-seven division final on Tuesday night at Germain Arena in front of a crowd of 4,203. Kowalski turned away all 25 shots he faced, which runs the Everblades current shutout streak to 133:39, and Vince Bellissimo chipped in with his first career post-season hat-trick to allow the Blades to open the series with the victory.
The Everblades have scored the first goal of the game in all four of their playoff games this season, opened the scoring on Jon Lehuns second playoff goal 11:17 into the first period. Lehun deflected a pass from Chris Dyment into the net after Derek Damons initial shot from the top of the left circle rang off the goal post.
The 1-0 lead carried into the second period when Bellissimo notched the first two of his goals. At 6:14 Bellissimo skated up the right wing after wrestling the puck away from Wildcatter defenseman Paul Albers and let a slap shot fly from the top of the right circle that whistled over the glove of Texas net minder Danny Taylor. Bellissimo then gave the Everblades a 3-0 lead with 57 seconds remaining in the second period by banging home a loose puck from the left post while the Everblades were on the power play. Adam Taylor and Ryan Brindley collected the assists on Bellissimos third playoff goal.
As the third period commenced, the Wildcatters enjoyed a chunk of shortened power plays, but the Florida penalty killers stood tall turning away all four Texas chances in the first five minutes of the period. With the teams back to full strength Taylor opened a 4-0 Florida lead by wristing a rebound off a Bellissimo shot into the back of the net at 9:55. The Everblades and Bellissimo sealed the victory with 16 seconds remaining in the game as Bellissimo slipped a shot past Taylor from the low slot causing the Everblades faithful to rain hats onto the Germain Arena ice.
In net, Kowalski improved to 4-0 this season in the playoffs and 7-0 in his post-season career, while Taylor suffered his first post-season loss knocking his record to 3-1 after allowing the five goals on 32 shots.
On the power play, the Everblades finished 1-for-6, while the Wildcatters closed out the game 0-for-10. |
