When it comes playoff time, playing well isn’t enough.
A team needs to walk away with the victory and the Sugar Kings came up just short of taking a commanding 3-1 series lead over the Listowel Cyclones on Sunday night.
The Sugar Kings lost a 2-1 nail-biter to the Cyclones that left their first-round playoff series tied at two games apiece.
After Listowel scored a goal in each of the first two periods, Tyson LeBlanc brought the home team within one early in the third, but the Kings were suffocated by goaltender James Prigione and the rest of the Cyclones from then on
Elmira coach Geoff Haddaway said his team played okay, but that’s not good enough in the playoffs, especially against a team like Listowel.
“Listowel is a team that demands that you work hard and if you don’t work hard they’re going to make you look bad,” he said. “To their credit, they came out a lot more desperate than we did and they deserved to win.
Defence and physicality were the hallmarks of a game that saw both teams having to earn every offensive chance they got. The game was marked by big hits and intensity, both before and after the whistles.
Special teams were an issue for the Kings in the latter part of the season, but so far in the playoffs they’ve been strong. On Sunday night they killed off all six Listowel power plays, but were unable to convert on any of their four opportunities and also allowed a short-handed goal to Ryan Horvat in the first period.
As usual, goaltending was solid for the Kings, with Brandon Gorecki stellar between the pipes. Unfortunately for Elmira, Prigione was even better.
Both netminders made some sensational saves that kept this one close right down to the finish. The Sugar Kings had some great chances in the final minute with the extra attacker, but were turned away by the Prigione.
After the game, Haddaway praised his goaltender and special teams for their level of play.
“Our penalty kill has been great. You need your penalty kill in the playoffs to be outstanding and that starts with your goaltender and we’ve just been getting some great goaltending from Gorecki,” Haddaway said. “Our power play has also been really good in the playoffs. We didn’t score tonight, but I thought we had a pretty good sense of urgency on the puck.”
The Sugar Kings still have a good chance to win the series, but they need to stay in control on the ice and keep the pressure on Prigione, Haddaway said.
“We like to play on the edge and I like them to play on the edge, but that’s something that there’s a line there and you can push the line but you can’t go over it,” he said. “Secondly, we just have to do a bit better job of getting pucks to the net. We know we’ve had some success when we do that so we have to continue to do it.”
Tanner Simpson scored the game-winner for Listowel in the second period.
Game 5 is set to go Tuesday in Listowel, with Game 6 in Elmira on Wednesday.