Stingrays top Inferno, take 2-0 series lead

With most of the pre-game talk surrounding the new South Carolina players from the American Hockey League, Marty Guerin must have felt like a forgotten man.

He is forgotten no longer.

Guerin recorded a hat trick and Andrew Gordon had a goal and an assist to lead South Carolina past Columbia, 5-2, Wednesday night in Game 2 of the South Division finals before a crowd of 2,851 at the North Charleston Coliseum.

Mic Smith
The Post and Courier

Marty Guerin (9) is congratulated after scoring a third-period goal in the Stingrays 5-2 victory over the Columbia Inferno Tuesday.

The Stingrays can wrap-up the best-of-five Kelly Cup Playoff series Friday night in Columbia in Game 3.

With the return of Gordon, Patrick and Grant McNeill and Steve Pinizzotto over the weekend from Hershey, it would be easy to overlook the soft-spoken Guerin. But after his three-goal outburst against the Inferno, the secret might be out.

"The new guys really played well, but Marty was the best player, by far, on the ice for us tonight," said Stingrays captain Cail MacLean. "He won the game for us. He's been playing great all year, so a performance like this is really no surprise for the guys in this locker room."

Guerin, who has been shuffled from line-to-line during the playoffs, leads the ECHL in scoring (13 points) and goals (nine) in the playoffs.

"The thing that Marty is doing now more than he was during the regular season is shooting the puck," said Stingrays coach Jared Bednar. "He's not doing anything fancy. He's leading the league in shots in the playoffs and as a result he's leading the league in scoring. That's not a coincidence.

"Marty is playing with a lot of confidence and he's having fun. When you enjoy who you're playing with and having fun, chances are you're going to have success on the ice."

Playing on a line with Gordon, who had 16 goals and 35 assists with Hershey, and Stephen Werner didn't hurt Guerin's cause either.

"Those guys are easy to play with," Geurin said. "They're smart. They move the puck. If you're in the right spot they're going to get you the puck. They made my job pretty easy out there tonight."

The return of Gordon, who played just 11 games for the Stingrays during the regular season, paid immediate dividends for the Stingrays. On his second shift back with in uniform, Gordon got a pass from Sasha Pokulok from behind the net and wristed a shot past Columbia goalie Todd Ford to give South Carolina a 1-0 lead five minutes into the game.

"Great pass from Sasha, got a lucky bounce, and had a lot of net to shoot at," said Gordon, who missed Game 1 of the series. "I think that got everyone going early. I was happy I was able to come back and contribute and do something early on."

The Stingrays pushed their advantage to 2-0 on Guerin's power play goal midway through the first period.

"We got off to a great start," Bednar said. "I'm not sure we could have played much better than we did in the first period."

The second period, however, was another matter. Despite outshooting Columbia, 13-6, the Inferno tied the game with goals by Reid Cashman and Mac Faulkner.

"I thought we got away from the things we had been doing in the first period," Bednar said. "We got a little too fancy at times and give Columbia credit, they took advantage with some timely goals. I didn't think we played that badly in the second period, but we didn't keep our game simple."

The Stingrays responded with a strong third period as Guerin added two more goals and Travis Morin chipped in with a power play goal.

"We finished the game really well," MacLean said. "We came out in the third period and played like we did in the first period."

The Inferno showed some frustration down the stretch, getting whistled for six penalties and 10-minute misconduct in the third period.

"They got frustrated, no question about it," Bednar said. "We went through the same thing in Gwinnett in Game 4 down at their place. It happens. Everyone's competitive and when things are not going your way, it can come to the surface."