NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. – Isaac Nurse made his first appearance in the Kelly Cup Playoffs a memorable one, as he snapped a scoreless deadlock just over seven minutes into the third period to lead the Florida Everblades to a 3-1 victory over the South Carolina Stingrays in Game Five of the ECHL South Division Finals Sunday night at North Charleston Coliseum. 

Florida closed out the best-of-five series four games to one in and awaits the winner of Monday’s Game Seven of the North Division Finals between the Maine Mariners and Wheeling Nailers. 

The Everblades controlled the tempo over the first 20 minutes, but were unable to score the valuable first goal that has been the team’s trademark throughout the playoffs. Florida had two near misses in the early stages of the first period, slipping the puck behind Stingrays netminder Seth Eisele, but both times the puck was stopped before crossing the goal line. 

The scoreless opening frame saw the Blades outshoot South Carolina 10-7 with both sides coming up empty on three power plays sprinkled with three four-on-four shifts.

Enjoying a five-on-three advantage to open the second period, the Blades peppered Eisele with four point-blank shots in the early stages, but were unable to convert. Florida would end up taking 14 of the first 15 shots in the frame and outshot South Carolina 18-5 in what proved to be a scoreless middle frame. 

While Eisele stopped every shot the Everblades mustered in the second stanza, Blades netminder Cam Johnson made big saves on each of the five shots that came his way in those 20 minutes.

The stalemate was broken 7:11 into the third period as Nurse forced home a rebound in heavy traffic to break the stalemate and give the Everblades a 1-0 lead. Nurse’s goal came in his first playoff appearance of the year, with Reid Duke and Jordan Sambrook picking up the assists.

Less than two minutes later, the Blades tacked on an all -important insurance goal to take a 2-0 lead. An intercepted pass by Tarun Fizer and a nifty feed from Cole Moberg set up Kyle Betts for his second goal of the postseason as the Everblades found some breathing room.

With South Carolina pulling Eisele for an extra attacker, Jaylen Luypen got the Stingrays on the board with 2:38 to play, trimming the Everblades’ lead to 2-1.

Carson Gicewicz closed out the scoring for the Everblades with an empty-net goal from Florida’s defensive end with 1:09 to play.

Florida outshot South Carolina decisively 36-17. Johnson picked up the win in goal, making 16 big saves, while Eisele registered 33 stops in a busy night for the Stingrays.

The Eastern Conference Finals against either Maine or Wheeling will open with a pair of games at Hertz Arena. Game One is slated for Friday, May 22, at 7:30 p.m., while Game Two will take place Saturday, May 23, at 7:00 p.m. Tickets for the Eastern Conference Finals will go on sale Monday. Season ticket holders can take advantage of a special presale at 10:00 a.m., with ticket sales for the general public starting at 12:00 p.m. Visit floridaeverblades.com for more information and to purchase tickets.

BLADES BITS

The Everblades will advance to the South Division Finals for the fifth consecutive year. 

Both Reid Duke and Jordan Sambrook notched their respective third assists of the series on Isaac Nurse’s game-winner. 

Kyle Betts scored for the first time since Game Two of the South Division Semifinals versus Savannah.

Cole Moberg notched his team-high fifth assist of the series.

Sunday Night’s Scoresheet 

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