The Greenville Swamp Rabbits came out on Friday night and took Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals by a final score of 5-2. Greenville’s win snaps a three-game win streak for the South Carolina Stingrays. This is the second time that these two teams have met in the playoffs, with the Stingrays winning the last series between these instate rivals in five games back in 2017. The best-of-five series is now knotted up at a game apiece.
Stingrays Get Stung In Game 2
South Carolina got off to a rough start on Friday, as Shawn Cameron found a loose puck and snuck it past Hunter Shepard on the short side. However, Greenville wasn’t done, as Garret Thompson would find the back of the net on the power play to increase the Swamp Rabbits lead early on. The Stingrays wouldn’t lay back, as Brent Supinski and Macoy Erkamps would each net one respectively before the period ended.
“I was pretty happy with our response after the first ten minutes of the period,” said Head Coach Ryan Blair. Greenville had a solid night on the power play, going 2/4 with the man advantage, as Greg Meireles fired a shot on net that Rays backstop Ryan Shepard didn’t see. Out of sorts, the puck trickled into the net, giving the Swamp Rabbits a 3-2 lead and one they wouldn’t look back on.
South Carolina had an opportunity during the third period, including two shorthanded chances, one being a breakaway, which was stopped by John Lethemon during a frame in which the Stingrays dominated the Swamp Rabbits. Lethemon had a strong third period and an even stronger game, as he stopped all 16 shots he faced to close it out. Speaking of his team’s performance, Ryan Blair said postgame, “We need to have short-term memory.”
Heading into Game 3, captain Andrew Cherniwchan said, “We just have to realize it’s 1-1 and come out to play tomorrow.” It shows that South Carolina wasn’t happy with the way they played on Friday and I would expect to see a hungry Stingrays team on Saturday, as puck drop is scheduled for 7:05pmET.