Jacksonville Icemen are playoff-bound: See the first-round Kelly Cup postseason schedule
Turning point: Nolan Burke scored the go-ahead goal early in the second period and the already-eliminated Atlanta Gladiators went on to defeat the Jacksonville Icemen 7-4 in Sunday's ECHL regular season finale at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena, bumping the Icemen to the No. 2 seed for this week's Kelly Cup playoffs.
Three stars: 1. Carson Denomie, Atlanta (three goals, one assist). 2. Brendan Harris, Jacksonville (one goal, two assists). 3. Derek Lodermeier, Jacksonville (three assists).
Penalty box: Brandon Fortunato and Olivier Nadeau both scored on the power play for the Icemen. ... Atlanta's Navrin Mutter and Jacksonville's Connor Russell participated in a second-period fight.
Around the rink: Icemen goalie Joe Murdaca was removed after allowing two goals on Atlanta's first four shots, with Matt Vernon entering and stopping 22 of 26 Gladiator attempts. ... Denomie completed his hat trick against an empty net in the final moments. ... Ryan Scarfo, just added to the active roster, scored for the Icemen.
Icemen playoff schedule: What's next
Because of their loss and the Greenville Swamp Rabbits' Sunday victory, the Icemen slipped to the No. 2 seed in the ECHL South Division playoffs.
They'll face off Thursday against the defending champion Florida Everblades, the team that eliminated them in both the 2021-22 and 2022-23 Kelly Cup playoffs. Had Jacksonville won Sunday's game, they would have received the top seed and a matchup with the Orlando Solar Bears.
In marked contrast to past years, the Icemen have dominated this year's series against the Everblades, with a 9-1-1-0 record in their regular season games.
The complete series schedule is as follows:
Game 1: Everblades at Icemen, 7 p.m. Thursday
Game 2: Everblades at Icemen, 3 p.m. April 21
Game 3: Icemen at Everblades, 7:30 p.m. April 24
Game 4: Icemen at Everblades, 7:30 p.m. April 26
Game 5 (if necessary): Icemen at Everblades, 7 p.m. April 27
Game 6 (if necessary): Everblades at Icemen, 7 p.m. April 30
Game 7 (if necessary): Everblades at Icemen, 7 p.m. May 1
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville Icemen playoffs: Kelly Cup first-round schedule
