ESTERO, FL – The South Carolina Stingrays dropped their final regular-season meeting with the Florida Everblades, 5-0, on Saturday night at Hertz Arena.
Florida (47-13-7-3) opened the scoring in the first minute for the second straight game, as Kyle Betts found the back of the net 52 seconds in to make it 1-0. The Everblades doubled their lead just over six minutes in before Oliver Cooper added another with 1:35 remaining in the first period.
Trailing by three, South Carolina (43-23-1-3) searched for an answer in the second period, but two Everblades goals eight seconds apart pushed the home side’s lead to 5-0 with 14:22 remaining in the frame.
Just past the midway point, a scrum in the Stingrays’ attacking zone led to 10-minute misconduct penalties for every skater on the ice. After tensions settled, the Everblades carried the five-goal lead into the third period.
Neither side scored in the third period as Jesper Vikman, who replaced Seth Eisele in the second, stopped all nine shots he faced. The Stingrays couldn’t solve Kyle McClellan, who made seven saves in the third to complete a 26-save shutout as Florida beat South Carolina, 5-0.
The Stingrays travel to Savannah, Georgia next Friday for their final road game of the regular season against the Savannah Ghost Pirates. Puck drop is slated for 7 p.m. from Enmarket Arena.