ECHL: Blades rally to top Stingrays

Florida, however, isn't most teams.

Brian McCullough scored two goals as Florida rallied for three unanswered goals in the third period to beat South Carolina, 5-4, Wednesday night before a crowd of 4,636 at the North Charleston Coliseum.

The Everblades, who won for the fifth straight time, improved to 11-3-3 (25 points) remained in first place in the Southern Division. The Stingrays dropped to 7-8-1 (15 points).

Leading 4-2 early in the third period, the Stingrays appeared to have the game in hand after trailing by two goals early in the game. But the Everblades came storming back mostly behind the ECHL's top scoring line of McCullough, Brent McDonald and Keith Anderson.

"I knew when we were up by two goals the game wasn't over," said South Carolina coach Jason Fitzsimmons. "Florida is a very explosive hockey team and I knew they'd get some chances.

"We made some costly mistakes in our end and they capitalized on every mistake we made. It seemed like every time we made a bad play in our zone, the puck ended up in our net. They're a very talented team."

Mike Jickling, who scored two goals for the Stingrays in the loss, including the Stingrays' only power-play goal to start the third period, said the Stingrays made too many mental mistakes.

"I thought for the most part we competed with them," Jickling said. "But we had some costly mistakes. We shot ourselves in the foot in the third period. We just had too many mental errors, especially in our end."

The line of McCullough, Anderson and McDonald came into the game with a combined 76 points on the season. Against the Stingrays the line produced three goals and four assists.

"If we were going to win, we were going to have to limit the production from that line," Fitzsimmons said. "They had seven points. We didn't do a very good job against them. If they're scoring, they're tough to beat."

The goals After a scoreless first period, the Everbaldes jumped to a 2-0 advantage with two goals in less than 40 seconds. After a turnover in neutral ice, Reggie Berg fed Jay Legault, who had got behind the South Carolina defense. Legault skated into the Stingrays zone and beat South Carolina goalie Kirk Daubenspeck with a nifty backhand move three minutes into the second period.

Thirty-eight seconds later, McCullough, the ECHL's leading scorer, notched his 13th goal of the season, this one a wrister that sailed just over Daubenspeck's shoulder from a step inside the left faceoff circle. The Stingrays answered with two quick goals of their own to tie the game with six minutes left in the second period.

Jickling, a former Everblades forward, closed the gap to 2-1 when he redirected a Robin Gomez pass between the legs of Florida goalie Rob Zepp with 6:32 left in the second period.

The Stingrays tied the game 21 seconds later when Marty Clapton stick-handled his way through the Everblades defense and beat Zepp with a backhand shot that he slid between Zepp's pads and the far post. South Carolina took a 3-2 lead on Gomez rebound goal with less than two minutes left in the second period.

The Stingrays extended their advantage to 4-2 on Jickling's power-play goal 59 seconds into the final period. After a scramble in front of the net, Jickling chipped in the loose puck for the score. Florida closed to within, 4-3, on McDonald's ninth goal of the season less than a minute later.

The Everblades tied the game at 4-4 on Dan Insana's slapshot midway through the third period.

The scoring continued when the Everblades took a 5-4 lead on McCullough's one-timer with nine minutes left in regulation.

EVERBLADES: 5; STINGRAYS: 4

Florida: 0 - 2 - 3 -- 5

South Carolina: 0 - 3 - 1 -- 4

First Period: No goals. Penalties: Spencer, SC (high sticking), 3:23; Jickling, SC (cross checking), 5:32; McDonald, F (boarding), 9:09; Legault, F (hooking), 16:26.

Second Period: 1. F, Legault 1 (Berg, Mallette), 3:17. 2. F, McCullough 13 (Anderson, Pagnutti), 3:55. 3. SC, Jickling 3 (Gomez, Johnson), 13:21. 4. SC, Clapton (Allen, Jickling), 13:42. 5. SC, Gomez 1 (Allen, Seitz), 18:26. Penalties: Shaneberger, F (hooking), 5:03; Allen, SC (hooking), 6:24; Coalter, F (slashing), 10:32; Coalter, F (boarding), 16:07; Legault, F (unsportsmanlike conduct), 19:28.

Third Period: 6. SC, Jickling 4 (Huppe, Power), :59. 7. F, McDonlad 9 (McCullough, Anderson), 1:48. 8. F, Insana 2 (Berg, Legault), 9:16. 9. F, McCullough 14 (McDonald, Van Buskirk), 11:11. Penalties: Seitz, SC (holding), 2:52; Henley, SC (high sticking), 4:07; Mallette, F (holding the stick), 4:31; Speiwak, SC (tripping), 10:02; Forbes, F (fighting), 11:52; Henley, SC (head butting, fighting), 11:52; Pagnutti, F (high sticking), 15:19; McDonald, (holding the stick), 17:45; Seitz, SC (goal tender interference), 18:37; Berg, F (unsportsmanlike conduct), 18:54; Daubenspeck, SC (high sticking), 18:54. Penalties - Florida 11-25; South Carolina 10-36; Power play - Florida 1 of 7; South Carolina 1 of 9; Shots on goal - Florida 13-11-9-33, South Carolina 11-16-11-38. Goalies - Florida: Rob Zepp (4-1-3), 38 shots, 34 saves; Kirk Daubenspeck (5-5-1) 33 shots, 28 saves. Attendance: 4,636.