The Florida Everblades are on the verge of history.
With Friday night's 4-1 win over the Kansas City Mavericks at Hertz Arena, the Everblades took a 3 games to 1 lead in the Kelly Cup Finals best-of-seven series.
One more win and they will be the first team in ECHL history to win three straight championships.
They have the chance to do that at home with Game 5 tonight at 7.
Game 3:Everblades come roaring back before a raucous crowd for Kelly Cup Finals Game 3 win
"I told the guys we've been here before," Everblades coach Brad Ralph said. "Game 5 against Adirondack, we were in the same position, so we know what it takes. We know mentally we've got to be in the right spot, just come back and put a full 60 of work in"
The game started physically, with both teams back-checking and keeping the pucks away from the crease. It was 8 minutes before either team had a shot on goal.
The physicality also meant a lot of penalty minutes, starting with a hooking call on Kansas City's Jeremy McKenna at the fourth minute. The Everblades had two shots that missed the net and saw the power play come to an early end with 30 seconds left as Matthew Wedman was whistled for tripping.
The Mavericks failed to score in the 30 seconds of 4-on-4 and the remaining 1:30 power play. But 16 seconds after leaving the penalty box, Wedman went right back in, this time a 4-minute double-minor for high sticking.
Kansas City's power play unit put five shots on goal during the man advantage, but it was the Everblades who made the one that counted as Oliver Chau tallied a shorthanded goal, the team's second shorty in the series.
That sequence started with Florida captain Joe Pendenza in front of his crease, tapping the puck toward defenseman Zach Berzolla off to the side. Berzolla attempted to clear the puck from the zone. As the puck slid up ice, Chau skated up to it, took it at his blue line and then continued up the right side. With a defender screening him, he skidded to a stop in the right face-off circle, then fired top shelf to take a 1-0 lead.
"He makes my job a lot easier," Pendenza said. "I've been playing with him for about 2 years now, so my common theme is just, 'Give the puck to Chau.' He's a great player. He pushes the pace. He can make plays. I love playing with him."
For Chau, it was his sixth goal of the series and ninth of the postseason. He was coming off a hat trick in Game 3 on Wednesday night.
The period ended with all 10 players on the ice getting into a scuffle in the corner. Each team had a player booked for roughing: Berzolla for Florida and Marc-Olivier Duquette for Kansas City.
In the ensuing 4-on-4 that started the second period, it was Florida coming out on top as Pendenza netted his fifth goal of the postseason. Chau possessed the puck along the blue line near the right half wall. He skated towards the center and dropped a pass to defenseman Cole Moberg, who took the puck up to the right face-off circle and took a shot. The puck hit Pendenza and flipped over Kansas City goalie Jack LaFontaine's pad into the net.
"I stood there and Moberg hit it off my shin pad," Pendenza said. "I guess that was just right place, right time. I'll take it. You take it however you get it because they all count the same."
In the seventh minute of the period, the Mavericks broke into the scoresheet with a goal by defenseman Justin MacPherson. Forward Nolan Walker skated up on the left side and backhanded a pass to MacPherson in the right face-off circle. MacPherson took a one-timer and made it a 2-1 game.
The Mavericks controlled the offensive flow for most of the rest of the period, especially between the 10th and 15th minutes when Florida goalie Cam Johnson had to glove and cover a series of shots.
"After the second period, there was a little bit of a mental reset for us," Ralph said. "It felt like we were trying to do a little too much, turning pucks over, and it led to a lot of their transition game. And they've got a really good hockey team, fast, dynamic core group."
With that reset, the Everblades defense got to work. The unit was so stifling that the Mavericks went 16 minutes before they got a shot off.
During that time, Florida defender Will Reilly scored a goal. With 17 minutes left, forward Josh Ho-Sang dropped a pass back to Jordan Sambrook. Reilly was across the ice holding his stick behind him in a backswing, signaling to Sambrook that he had a shot. Sambrook passed it, Reilly took the puck to the left face-off circle and fired high on the glove side into the net.
"We call our D the D Corps," Ho-Sang said. "They're our Marines. They're our heart and soul. Without them, we wouldn't even be having these conversations right now. They know what they are to our team."Bobo Carpenter rounded out the scoring with an empty net goal, sending
