Blades Look to Bounce Back in Series Finale against Maine
Published on February 14, 2026 under ECHL (ECHL)
Florida Everblades News Release
Florida Everblades forward Oliver Cooper looks for a shot
(Florida Everblades)
ESTERO, Fla. - The Florida Everblades will look to win the rubber match of their three-game set against the Maine Mariners after splitting the first two games of the series. Florida earned a 4-2 victory in the series opener Wednesday night and dropped an overtime decision 2-1 last night as Brooklyn Kalmikov netted the game-winner.
This season Florida is 4-3-0-1 in the series finale of a three-game set including a 2-0 mark in meetings against North Division opponents. Brad Ralph's group has been strong when it comes to Saturday hockey posting a 7-3-3-1 record in 14 games this season.
Scoring the first goal has played a key factor in deciding the outcomes of games to begin the series against Maine with the Everblades posting a 4-2 victory in the series opener after scoring the game's first goal and Maine picking up the win last night after striking first. The Blades this season are 20-3-4-0 when scoring first while Maine is 15-6-3-1 when doing so.
Special teams have loomed critical throughout the series against the Mariners in helping supply Florida with an added scoring boost. Three of Florida's five goals in the series have come on the power play including a pair from Logan Lambdin. Although, the Mariners have no man advantage goals in the series officially Linus Hemstrom's goal last night came four seconds after their power play expired. This season the Blades rank 15thin the ECHL on the man advantage converting 18.8 percent of their opportunities while Maine is 11th at 19.5 percent. Florida's penalty kill holds the edge in the matchup successfully defending all seven of Maine's power plays in the series and rank second best in the ECHL operating at 87.7 percent while the Mariners penalty kill sits 14th in the league at 82.3 percent.
Both Cam Johnson and Brad Arvanitis have received the starting goaltending duties in the matchup. Cam Johnson has been sharp as of late for Florida holding his opponents to two goals or fewer in four of his last five starts including both performances against Maine. Over this stretch Johnson has posted a 1.98 goals-against average and .919 save percentage. On the other side, Arvanitis is 3-1-1 over his last five appearances with a 3.00 goals-against average and .901 save percentage during this span.
The puck drops at 7:00 p.m. ET for Star Wars Night presented by NCH to conclude the three-game set.
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 Florida Everblades forward Oliver Cooper looks for a shot |
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