Stingrays lose in OT, but clinch playoff spot

The South Carolina Stingrays probably deserved a better fate.

Milan Gajic scored with 1:16 left in overtime to lift Florida over South Carolina, 2-1, Saturday night before a crowd of 6,257 at the North Charleston Coliseum.

With the point, the Stingrays, who are 2-0-1 in their last three games, are 37-16-12 (86 points) and clinched a spot in next month's Kelly Cup playoffs. The Everblades improved to 33-21-9 (75 points).

The Rays dominated large chunks of the action, especially in the third period, but failed to come away with the victory.

"Honestly, I liked the way we played," said South Carolina coach Cail MacLean. "We had a lot of good scoring opportunities, but we didn't take advantage of them. I was happy with the character that we showed, especially in the third period."

Florida goalie Chris Beckford-Tseu, who struggled at times during the Stingrays' 3-1, victory Friday, redeemed himself by stopping 35 of 36 shots.

"We had some grade-A chances that he made good stops on," MacLean said. "I think we saw the real Chris Beckford-Tseu tonight."

Stingrays goalie Todd Ford had another solid performance, stopping 26 of 28 shots.

Trailing 1-0 after two periods, the Stingrays dominated the final 20 minutes, outshooting Florida 15-6.

The Stingrays tied the game on Rob Ricci's 24th goal of the season with 2:31 left in regulation. Rookie defenseman Jason Fredricks found Ricci behind the Everblades' defenders. Ricci skated in and beat Beckford-Tseu with a nifty forehand-backhand move.

"It's a huge play, a huge goal for us and got us a point out of this game," MacLean said.

Gajic was able to split two Stingrays defenders to beat Ford for the eventual game-winner.

The Stingrays will be in the playoffs for the 15th time in the last 16 years.

"That's a great milestone for this team," MacLean said. "Now we're going to concentrate on getting the highest seed we can get."

Slap shots

--Forwards Matt Fornataro (Norfolk), Nikita Kashirsky (Manitoba), Michael Dubuc (Hershey), defensemen Zach Tarkir (Norfolk), Dylan Yeo (Hershey) and Patrick Wellar (Hershey) and goalie Braden Holtby (Hershey) are currently on loan to teams in the AHL.

--Forwards Matt Scherer (groin), Dain Prewitt (upper body) and Spencer Carbery (upper body) and defensemen Nate Kiser (upper body) Josh Godfrey (concussion), Zach Jones (knee) and Joe Finley (hand) were out of the lineup with injuries.

First Period: No goals. Penalties: Kroll, SC (holding), :48; Paquet, F (tripping), 10:49.

Second Period: 1. Hartlieb 11 (Buck, Zanon), 19:30. Penalties: G. Johnson, SC (hooking), 11:39.

Third Period: 2. SC, Ricci 24 (Fredricks, Farrell), 17:29. Penalties: Roy, F (tripping), 1:40.

Overtime: 3. Gajic 13 (Buck, Reid), 3:44. Penalties: No penalties.

Shots on goal: SC 9-11-15-1-36. Florida: 8-10-6-4-28. Penalties: SC 2-4; Florida 2-4. Power play: SC 0 of 2. Florida 0 of 2. Goalies: SC - Todd Ford (18-7-2) 28 shots, 26 saves. Florida - Chris Beckford-Tseu (15-8-4) 36 shots, 35 saves. Att: 6,257.