ESTERO, Fla. – For the second straight night, the Florida Everblades dominated the shots on goal count, but came up short by a single goal, falling to the Trois-Rivières Lions 2-1 in Game Two of the Eastern Conference Finals before 5,877 fans Sunday evening at Hertz Arena. Despite posting 32 shots on goal for the two consecutive games, the Everblades limited the Lions to just 14 shots, but find themselves trailing the best-of-seven series two games to none.
Trois-Rivières opened the scoring just 36 seconds into the contest as Alex Beaucage registered his seventh goal of the playoffs to stake the visiting Lions to a 1-0 lead.
Just shy of the three-minute mark, Kyle Neuber responded for the Everblades, tying the game at 1-1 with his first goal of the postseason, with Isaac Nurse earning the assist.
The 1-1 deadlock would carry into the second period, but Justin Ducharme netted the eventual game-winner with a shorthanded goal at 3:39 of the middle frame as Trois-Rivières took a 2-1 lead that would hold up the rest of the way.
Florida outshot Trois-Rivières 22-6 over the final two periods, surrendering just three shots on goal in each of the two frames. but could not get another puck past Lions netminder Luke Cavallin the rest of the way. Cavallin stopped 31 of 32 shots to earn a second win in the series. Everblades goaltender Cam Johnson made 12 saves and suffered a second-straight hard-luck loss.
The Everblades will need to win two of three games in Canada to bring the series back to Hertz Arena for a potential Game Six and Seven on Tuesday, May 27 and Wednesday, May 28, respectively, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for those two games will go on sale Monday at 10:00 on Ticketmaster or at the Fifth Third Bank Box Office at Hertz Arena. Visit floridaeverblades.com for more information.
