NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Florida Everblades scored first, but the South Carolina Stingrays ended the night with three unanswered goals and staved off elimination, topping the Blades 3-1 in Game Four of the ECHL South Division Finals Friday night at North Charleston Coliseum. Florida still holds a 3-1 edge in the series with Game Five of the best-of-seven series scheduled for Sunday night in North Charleston.

For the eighth time in eight postseason games this year, the Everblades scored first, with team captain Oliver Chau lighting the lamp at the 17:21 mark of the first period. A wide-open Chau struck from the crease, burying a feed from Craig Needham for his second goal of the playoffs, with Carson Gicewicz also picking up an assist. 

South Carolina responded in short order, as Josh Wilkins knotted the game at 1-1 with his first goal of the postseason at 18:59 as the bitter rivals took a deadlock into the first intermission. For the first time in this year’s playoffs, the Everblades did not hold the lead after 20 minutes of play. Both teams took eight shots on goal in the opening frame.

In the second period, Connor Moore gave the host Stingrays a 2-1 lead with his second goal in as many nights, coming at the 8:43 mark. South Carolina’s lead marked the first time that the Everblades have trailed in eight contests in this postseason. Despite outshooting their hosts 10-3 in the middle frame, the Blades entered the second intermission down by a goal.

The Everblades peppered South Carolina goaltender Seth Eisele throughout the entire third period, but could not find the nest. Key stops by netminder Cam Johnson, as well as the Blades' defense, after Johnson was pulled for an extra attacker with 2:11 to play, kept Florida in the contest. While two South Carolina shots at the empty Florida net went just wide, Moore found the empty net with 14 seconds left for his second goal of the night to seal the 3-1 victory for South Carolina.

Florida dominated the shot count 15-7 in the final period and 33-18 for the game. Johnson stopped 15 shots for the Everblades, while Eisele registered 32 saves in his first playoff start for the Stingrays.

Game Five will be played Sunday evening at North Charleston Coliseum with the puck drop scheduled for 7:05 p.m. If needed, Games Six and Seven would be played at Hertz Arena on Tuesday , May 19, and Wednesday, May 20, with both games starting at 7:30 p.m. Visit floridaeverblades.com for more information and to purchase tickets.

BLADES BITS
Oliver Chau’s opening goal was his first of the series and first marker since striking in the clincher of the Blades’ opening-round clincher against Savannah. 

Carson Gicewicz logged an assist on Chau’s goal, giving him a helper in three straight games and fourth in the last five games. Craig Needham also registered a helper, giving him points in back-to-back games.

The Everblades’ one goal was the team’s lowest-scoring game of the 2026 Kelly Cup Playoffs.

Florida’s seven-game winning streak to open the postseason came to an end. The ECHL record for longest playoff winning streak is 11 games. There have been 13 playoff-winning streaks of eight games or longer.

Friday Night’s Scoresheet 

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